The Unholy Trinity
by RobotWarsDiego
Summary: The Investigation Team and The Phantom Thieves have been sent back in time to prevent the death of Makoto Yuki. While their goal is certain, their ability to cooperate is anything but. And with a few uninvited guests along for the ride, the situation seems to be getting more complicated by the minute. (MAJOR spoilers) (OLD VERSION, READ "The Unholy Trinity: FES")
1. Chapter 1: The Call to Action

**Chapter I:** **The Call to Action**

Akira Kurusu recognized this feeling. This ethereal sensation as if he was caught in a void beyond reality, the comforting yet somewhat hostile atmosphere, and the cold, hard stone supporting his back. It was a familiar feeling, one that greeted him on the way into Tokyo and one that he experienced quite a few times after. Yes, Akira had once again been taken to the Velvet Room. He wasn't very surprised at this point, he'd been called to the room in his sleep more than a few times now, and at this point, the height of his group's achievements, he wasn't really up for another lecture from Igor. But when he thought about it, juvie had been pretty consistently boring, so he decided that it was about time for a change of pace. And so, Akira got up and prepared for said inevitable lecture, only to be greeted with a surprise; he was back in his cell. Ever since he had exposed Yaldabaoth, he had been free from the confines of his cell and the itchiness of the prison rags which he once again found himself in.

He felt considerably annoyed. Having to spend two months in prison was already bad enough, but having to be subjected to the prisoner act even in the one room where he felt he might be able to get a respite was just rubbing salt in the wound. But that wasn't the only unusual thing about his visit to the Velvet Room; for the cell right across from his was occupied. And the cell next to it, and the cell next to that one, and so forth until each of them was full.

As usual, the Velvet Room took the form of a prison, and Igor, the Room's owner, played the part of a warden. Igor was placed in the center of the room, and Lavenza, his assistant, was by his side. But rather than simply being a place where Akira could fuse Personas, it now seemed like a genuine prison. He stood in surprise for a bit before trying to speak, but Lavenza suddenly raised her hand, signaling him to stay quiet. She then proceeded to flip through her tome until she landed on the page she was looking for, and summoned the angelic Persona pictured on that page, Trumpeter. In a burst of blue, it appeared before her.

"Please wake up our guests," Lavenza spoke softly to her Persona, prompting it to raise it's trumpet to its mouth. Akira quickly covered his ears, before Trumpeter blew its horn. Even covering his ears, it was quite apparent just how loud the trumpet was, and Akira prayed that the other occupants would still be able to hear after it had passed. While still covering his ears, he kept his eyes focused outside his cell. Many of the figures now abruptly waking up were people he knew. Ryuji was screaming and flailing, Anne had fallen off of her bunk, Yusuke shot straight up before covering his ears, Makoto was doing the same, Futaba scrunched up on her bunk, and Haru was curled up in the corner of her cell. They all looked like they were dressed in the same striped prison rags as Akira. Morgana was sprawled out on Akira's floor, now looking like he was having a panic attack.

As Trumpeter ended its cacophonous trumpeting and returned to Lavenza's tome, each of the Thieves got up apprehensively. Once he found that they were all accounted for, Akira noticed a far-off cell to his right, where there was someone that he did not recognize. It was a boy about his age, with silver hair, dressed in the same prisoner's outfit that he was. He looked like he was in a cold sweat, unaware of what was going on. He noticed a few other cells within his field of vision that also held several people unknown to him, all of whom looked incredibly confused. They weren't the only ones; Akira was now sitting with Morgana at his side, thinking at a mile-a-minute, trying to work out what could be going on. It was bad enough when the Demiurge itself interrupted his Christmas Eve, now Igor was going to interrupt his life the day before he got out of the slammer? Akira looked over at Ryuji's cell, noticing that he was still half-asleep.

"Ahhhhh… Goddammit! I get it! I'm getting u- WHAT?!" By the time he had opened his eyes, he was quite evidently surprised, and judging by the other shouts and chatter that followed suit, so was everyone else. Ryuji looked around for a bit before laying his eyes on Akira's cell.

"Akira!" he shouted, "Man, what's going on? Why are we here with the old man? Why are we in these cells? Wha-"

In an instant, Lavenza summoned Trumpeter once again, and Ryuji immediately shut up. A look of absolute dread filled his face, and he noticed that all his friends were looking at him like they were contemplating murder. With Ryuji silenced, all the inmates gradually and quietly stood up, trying to process the bizarre circumstances they had found themselves faced with. As Lavenza returned Trumpeter a second time, she gestured to the room's owner.

"My master would very much like to speak with all of you," she said, "Please ward off your weariness and hold all your questions until he is finished speaking."

Igor then raised his head, and began to talk, "Welcome to the Velvet Room. This place exists between dream and reality. Mind and matter. Now, it appears we have more guests than usual. Some familiar, some not. I would like to apologize for the abruptness of your summoning, but I require you all to lend some assistance to me. It is a burdensome task, I admit, but it is quite important."

Akira sighed. It seemed like his life was now some sort of endless cycle of misery where he was never allowed to have more than a month or two to just decompress from fighting monsters. He gathered that his friends probably felt the same way as well. But he knew that if Igor was in a position to go out of his way and ask them for help, then it must've been important.

"Now, I may have neglected to mention this to you in our previous meetings, but I am not working merely at my own behest. I am merely a servant of my master, Philemon." Akira was surprised. Igor very much seemed as it he was meant to be the sole master of the Velvet Room, and even though he had only very recently met the real Igor, his demeanor was only slightly different from the one he had known. Igor seemed almost all-knowing, omniscient, like he was thinking on a level that humans probably couldn't comprehend, and the idea that there was someone above his level of knowledge almost scared Akira.

"Master Philemon has a very high opinion of humans," Igor continued, "He believes greatly in their potential, and in their strength of mind. As such, he frequently wagers on such matters. And he has recently made a wager as to whether or not he can prevent a certain event from occurring in the year two-thousand and nine. He then tasked me with gathering a party to act as his proxies. As you can probably gather, that is why you have all been brought here. To be quite direct, I need you to travel back in time in order to prevent this particular event from occurring."

As Igor finished, the room went silent for a moment before Lavenza spoke up. "You are now allowed to speak and ask questions, but please try to be civil about it." More silence. Akira was getting sick of this.

He was about to speak up himself before someone else shouted, "The hell?!" at Igor. Looking to his right, Akira found that the voice belonged to a thuggish looking young man with blonde hair similar to Ryuji's.

"Who do you think you are?! No way we're just gonna do what you say!"

"Damn right!" said a brown-haired girl in the cell next to his, "I'm not going through with this! No way, no how!"

With those two leading the charge, the entire cell block had erupted into protest. It seemed like nothing was going to be heard until someone spoke up, "Everyone, calm down!"

All of the inmates were immediately quieted, and everyone's attention was drawn to the cell of the silver-haired boy.

"Give me a moment," he said, "I'll work things out." He turned to Igor.

"Igor," he said, "I'm not quite sure what to think of this task you've given us, but I need you to answer some questions. Where's Margaret? Why does the Velvet Room look like this? Who are these other people? And what did your master wager?"

Akira was intrigued. It seemed that this boy was familiar with Igor, much more so than any of the other strangers. He had clearly been to the Velvet Room before, but wasn't familiar with it in this form. There was a possibility that he was a wild card user, but considering that his friends had been able to visit the Velvet Room once before, it was still too uncertain to say.

"Ah, yes." Igor said, "It is a pleasure to see you once again Mr. Narukami. It's been far too long since our last meeting. Though, for you I assume it hasn't been as long as it was for me." Narukami. So that was his name. And it looked like Akira's hunch was right. He doubted that Igor would talk like that to someone who he didn't frequently see, which meant that this Narukami boy had to have been a regular visitor at some point. But he was confused as to why Igor mentioned that he had felt that he had waited longer between their last visit.

His question was promptly answered. "To put it simply, Mr. Narukami, the Velvet Room you are currently inhabiting is neither the one you are familiar with, nor is it situated in your time. You currently are in the Velvet Room of the year two-thousand and seventeen, and its main guest is that young man over there; Mr. Akira Kurusu." He gestured to Akira's cell for a moment before returning to his hands to their normal steepled position. "In this time period, Margaret and Marie occupy the Velvet Room you visit by themselves. My assistant in this room is Lavenza." He then gestured to Lavenza, who curtsied to Narukami. "And as for the other visitors," he continued, "They are acquaintances of Mr. Kurusu, and are here to fulfill the same goal as you."

Akira noticed the unfamiliar stares from the room's other occupants. He wasn't so sure about working with a large deal of strangers, regardless of whether or not they knew Igor. It wasn't that Akira didn't trust the Velvet Room's proprietor, it was more that, in the short time that he had know the real Igor, he had seen that he was somewhat ambiguous in his judgement. He hoped that they would be able to cooperate and get the job done, but depending on the circumstances, he knew that doing so may potentially be out of the question. At this point, he would just let things play out and see how they went.

"Now," Igor continued "I know you all likely wish to know what my master has staked on this wager. Unfortunately, I am not at liberty to reveal that information. Master Philemon behaves in ways that most humans find quite alien. While I cannot properly explain what it is that he has wagered, I can say that he does have the utmost faith in all of you to accomplish your goal."

"And what, pray tell, is that goal?" asked Makoto, who seemed quite irate with Igor. Not that Akira blamed her. He felt very much the same.

Igor, however, kept grinning and replied in short order, "You must prevent the death of Makoto Yuki."

Once more, the room was silent. Akira gathered by this silence that no one else knew who this, "Makoto Yuki," person was.

"Do you know how we can come into contact with him when we get there?" replied Makoto (Nijima).

"There is no cause for concern," said Igor, "I will make sure that you are put in a position where meeting with him will be quite easy. Now, I must see you all off."

All of a sudden, the sound of gears turning filled the room, as it seemed things were now being put into motion. Everyone in the cells began panicking, some yelling at Igor about how unfair the situation was, others retreating to the back of their cells in fear.

Akira on the other hand simply looked at Lavenza and said, "You're really just going to throw us back in time so abruptly? I wish I had time to pack."

"For your convenience," she replied, "You will each be provided with a bag of clothes, a time-appropriate cell phone, and enough funds to get by for the time being. In addition, you will each be provided with a familiar weapon."

"Huh," Akira muttered, "I guess we're not too bad off then. I suppose that it was all paid for using my money?"

Lavenza smirked and said, "Yes. Your friends are lucky that you made such frequent use of the compendium."

And then, all of a sudden, the cells slowly began to descend, which was met with cries of dismay from their inhabitants. As Akira's cell was filled with darkness and he lost sight of his friends, he looked once more to Lavenza and said, "Well, take care."

Lavenza curtsied once more and said, "Until your next visit, Akira Kurusu," before the cell was enveloped in total darkness.

As his cell descended like an elevator. ("A cellevator?" he mused) Akira gradually began to feel tired. His eyelids felt heavy, he had trouble standing up, and soon had to sit to avoid collapsing. Realizing that this was probably a natural consequence of time travel, he decided to play along. He needed to catch up on his sleep anyway. He laid down on his bunk, put his hands behind his head, and… oh right. Morgana was in here with him. Before falling asleep, he decided that it would probably be for the best if Morgana slept on the bunk and he took the floor. He didn't want to step on him when he got up. That is, if he was still in this room when he woke up, but nevertheless, he didn't want to take that risk. Mustering what little strength he had left, he picked up Morgana, sat himself down on the floor, and placed Morgana on the bunk. With that done, he finally let sleep take hold.

* * *

Akira awoke very suddenly, now well aware that there was some form of light shining on him. Sitting up he looked around the area and noticed that he was most certainly not in the real or mental prison anymore. He was lying on pavement, surrounded by the rest of the Thieves and the unfamiliar group from the Velvet Room. Looking at said group, Akira counted eleven people who he didn't recognize. They seemed to be all tucked away in some sort of niche, and after his eyes adjusted to the light coming from what looked like the exit, Akira could see…. a fountain? He then noticed that he and the rest of the former prisoners were now all dressed in what seemed to be their sleepwear, rather than the uncomfortable striped prison garb. Everyone also seemed to have a large duffel bag right by their side. He looked to his right, and saw that he had one as well, with his name on it. Opening it, he found many of his favorite clothes, his wallet, and a very archaic looking smartphone. Turning it on, he found that it not only had the OtherWorld Navi app, but also all of the data from his previous phone as well. It seemed like it could store more data than an average phone from its year. The time was 11:45. The date, April 2. Digging around a bit more, he also managed to find a knife and pistol, the very same knife and pistol he had used in what he thought was his group's final battle. Still somewhat annoyed, but nonetheless driven to get the job done, Akira closed the bag went over to wake the group, starting with Ryuji. Morgana was still sleeping to his left, but Akira decided to let him have a bit more sleep.

Akira tapped Ryuji's face, "Ryuji," he said, "Get up."

Ryuji's eyes fluttered, but he was still clearly trying to sleep. It seemed that more drastic measures were needed. All of a sudden, Akira had an idea.

"Ryuji," he said again, getting closer to his ear, "Anne gave me some nude photos. Wanna see?"

This got Ryuji sitting up in an instant. "HELL YEAH I DO!" He yelled, stirring the people still asleep. It looked like Akira's plan had worked perfectly. The tight space reverberated the sound, making it all the more jarring to those still sleeping. Akira wasn't going to have to put in too much effort to wake them up.

"Sorry," he said, "I just needed you to get up."

Ryuji frowned, "Aw dude, no fair! Don't tease me like tha- Akira!" Ryuji yelled again, stirring the gang even more, "Holy shit, it's been ages! I mean, I know I've visited you a couple times but dude, it's great to see you're doing alright after juvie! Man, you won't believe the crazy dream I ha-"

Akira raised his hand, signaling Ryuji to stop. "Ryuji, take a look around for a second and then tell me if you think that what you experienced was really a dream."

Ryuji looked perplexed and looked around for a moment before he realized that the entire gang was right behind him. "OH WHAT THE-" Akira covered his mouth before he could let out another yell.

"Quiet," he whispered, "Everyone's already waking up at their own pace. I don't think you or I want to be on their bad side right now." Ryuji took a moment to think before nodding, and Akira took his hand off of Ryuji's mouth.

"Anyway," he said, turning to face Akira, "I suppose we really were in the Velvet Room?"

"Yeah," Akira said, "We were, and I suppose that we should keep an eye out for this 'Makoto Yuki,' person. But first, we should catch up with our group and set the record straight with the oth-" Akira had just looked in the direction of his group, and froze. Ryuji, perplexed turned and saw why. No one was missing, everyone looked well enough, and every member of the Phantom Thieves of Hearts was coming to.

The problem? One of those members shouldn't have been there.

At the very back of the pack, now totally unobscured, sat Goro Akechi. In the flesh and blood. He looked over at Akira and Ryuji.

"Oh, hello." He said, grinning innocently, "I suppose that what happened in that Velvet Room wasn't a dream huh?"

In what felt like an instant, Akira opened his bag, grabbed his gun and knife, and without hesitation, charged at Goro.


	2. Chapter 2: The Hour is Nigh

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Persona. Or anything ATLUS related. Katsura and ATLUS own this. Please don't sue me. I have no money.

Hello world, it's RobotWarsDiego. I gotta say, for my first swing at writing fanfiction, I think that I've done a half decent job. I hope you enjoy reading this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it.

pheiral: I'm pretty much aware of almost all the plot beats of _Persona 5_ , and this story will make use of _Persona 5_ 's canon. If it turns out my information was bad, I'll adjust the earlier chapters to reflect this. The POV will shift every chapter between the Phantom Thieves, the Investigation Team, and SEES. When it comes to Akira, I see him as being very multi-faced. With his friends, he's very comfortable and willing to show more emotions than usual, but he knows when to get serious. In Thief Mode, he's very expressive and has a lot of fun doing what he does. Around strangers, he plays it very safe, but usually knows when to loosen up. Internally, I feel that he's very observant kind of guy, but also a bit lazy when not in Thief Mode. He has a very dry sense of humor, and unlike Yu, he's less of a warm big-brother type of guy who you feel like you can confide in so much as he's a guy that you just kind of want to knock a few drinks back and share stories with.

* * *

Chapter II: The Hour is Nigh

11:45 PM

April 2, 2009

?

Yu Narukami was brought to consciousness by a scream of, "HELL YEAH I DO!" The scream was loud, almost ear-piercing, and judging by the other moans around him, he wasn't the only one disturbed by it. He was currently sitting, propped up on some sort of wall, and though he was trying to go back to sleep, after about a minute, it had gotten incredibly uncomfortable. Another yell of "OH WHAT THE-" rang out, only to be cut off. Yu was thankful for that, as he doubted that he could handle another one of those yells. He figured that he would probably have to get up sooner or later. Oh well, at least he had gotten a good night's sleep- Oh, wait, he had been tasked with saving a stranger's life by Igor last night. He may have been well-rested, but remembering that fact almost made Yu try to go back to sleep. But in the end, he knew that it would probably be a futile endeavor.

Yu sighed, "At least I'm not in this alone," he thought. He got up, ready to greet his friends, and get this new adventure started, only to be met with the sight of the black-haired boy (Akira Kurusu?) from the Velvet Room restraining a smiling brown-haired boy, who was kneeling on the ground. Kurusu was crouching, holding a knife to the other boy's throat while the rest of the unfamiliar group watched. The blonde-haired loudmouth who was also in the Velvet Room was right by Kurusu, carrying a sledgehammer over his right shoulder. Taking stock of the strangers, he counted eight people and one cat.

Yu was silent for a moment, he didn't know what to process what he was seeing. Was the brown-haired boy a dangerous person? Or were those people just crazy? His staring caught the attention of the blonde-haired boy.

"Akira!" he said, "That Narukami guy's awake!"

Kurusu and his group stared back at Yu, and their eyes locked. Yu was getting nervous. If it turned out that this group was uncooperative, things could go south really fast. No. He trusted Igor's judgement… for the most part, and these guys had to be at least somewhat open to discussion. He knew that Kurusu probably understood that he was alarmed by his behavior, so the best option at this point was to get some information about these strangers.

"Akira Kurusu?" Yu questioned, standing up.

Kurusu nodded, "Mr. Narukami?" he responded.

Yu nodded back, "Yu Narukami," he said, "Before we get underway, I need to ask you a few questions."

"That's fair." Kurusu replied.

"Alright," Yu said, "First off, I just want to clarify a few things. Would I be correct to assume that you and the others with you are all Persona users?"

"Yes," Kurusu said, "I suppose I can assume the same thing of your group?"

"Yes," Yu replied. Things were going well so far. "Alright," he continued, "Now, who is the boy that you're restraining, and why are you restraining him?"

The blonde-haired boy grimaced and responded out of turn, "This bastard's name is Goro Akechi. Where we're from, he's called 'The Second Coming of the Detective Prince.' We used to call him 'Crow.' But now we just call him a lying piece of shit."

"Ryuji," Kurusu said, "Keep your cool. I know you're angry, but it's in our best interest to stay calm right now."

"Hmpf," the blonde-haired boy grumbled, looking back at Akechi. "The name's Ryuji Sakamoto by the way," he said.

"To put it bluntly," Kurusu continued, "What Ryuji said about Goro is true. We knew him once as a prodigy detective, and he also used to be a member of our group. However, it didn't take him long to turn his back on us."

Akechi himself just kept smiling, "Wow, so that's what all this is about? Well I'm sorry to say that I can neither confirm nor deny any of this." He turned to Yu, "I keep telling them that I've lost my memory, but they're not exactly taking it to mind."

"Because we don't trust you!" yelled a platinum blonde girl with twin-tails, "We may have offered you a chance to settle the score with your bastard dad, but that doesn't mean we just forgot everything you did!"

It was good to have gotten some information from the group, but Yu was most intrigued by Akechi's title. "The Second Coming of the Detective Prince." It seemed like Naoto had achieved some deal of mainstream attention in 2017. Yu was also intrigued by his glimpses into this Akechi's character. From the glares they were all giving him, it was clear that the other party had a very low opinion of him, and Yu didn't blame them for being suspicious. Akechi's smile and mannerisms did look a bit too cheerful to be real, and his amnesia excuse seemed laughable considering that he was supposedly somewhat close to Naoto's intelligence.

As Yu was thinking about Akechi, a yawn suddenly came from close by. Everyone's eyes shifted to the person lying directly behind him. It was coming from Yu's best friend, Yosuke Hanamura.

"Aw, man," he groaned," who tossed me out of my house this time?"

Yu turned, eager to greet his friend, and froze.

Getting a better look at his sprawled-out group from a standing position revealed that were three figures among them who were not members of the Investigation Team. One was Labrys, the 5th Generation Anti-Shadow Weapon, slumped up against the back wall of the alley they were currently inhabiting. But that wasn't who Yu was concerned about. Right by her side laid Sho Minazuki and Tohru Adachi.

"Oh, so you've also got some surprise guests, it seems?" Kurusu said, coyly.

Kurusu seemed to have quite the sharp tongue, but this was no laughing matter. Yu may have been an optimist that saw the best in everyone, but despite their supposed reformations, he would probably never lose his apprehension when dealing with either of them. He was practically in a trance seeing those two.

Thankfully, Yu was snapped out of his trance by Yosuke, who had just woken up and gotten a good look at him. "Dude!" Yosuke yelled, standing straight up, "Great to see you, Yu. Geez, how long has it been since your last visit? I feel like I haven't seen you for years."

Blinking a couple times before regaining his bearings, Yu warmly smiled. Yosuke was kind of a goof, sure, but damn if his enthusiasm wasn't contagious. Though Yu was kind of confused on that last part. If anything, it seemed to him like he'd been going to Inaba almost non-stop since Spring 2012. He didn't know why, but somehow he felt that some sort of divine, otherworldly presence might have just been exploiting him for their own nefarious purposes. It would certainly explain the whole dancing adventure they had. Reflecting on that, he still couldn't really grasp how that had all worked. It seemed like these adventures were getting more ridiculous as they kept on coming. Hell, maybe he had been on an adventure through time already, and his memory had just been erased? "No," he thought. Now he was just being paranoid.

"It's good to see you again, Yosuke," he said.

"Did someone call for me?" a deep, masculine voice came from the strangers. Yu turned around. Facing them was a tall young man with blue hair. Surely this pretty boy couldn't have been-

"No Yusuke, he said Yosuke," a girl with brown hair and an imposing presence said to that boy. Oh. It was. What did it take nowadays for such lean young men to sound like they had come straight out of _JoJo's Bizarre Adventure_?

"Oh," he replied, "My apologies. Just to clear up the confusion, my name is-"

Yu raised his hand, signaling him to stop talking.

"Let's wait until we're all awake to do introductions," he said.

Kurusu nodded, "Good idea. Doesn't look like we'll be waiting long though."

He and Yosuke turned around to find that Kurusu was right, the entire Investigation Team (and company) was now fully waking up. All to varying degrees of surprise.

"What the hell's happening here?!"

"Uh, am I still dreaming?

"Oh come on!"

"My tour bus didn't just abandon me, right?"

"This definitely isn't Yosuke's closet."

"…"

"Uh, hi guys?"

"You know, maybe the prison beds were more comfortable than I gave them credit for."

"I've slept in a lot of places, but this alley's totally not up my alley."

Those last two got everyone's attention, and after a brief glance in their direction and a second of realization, the entire Investigation Team was on its feet.

After a brief moment of silence, Adachi broke it, "Hey boys and girls!" he said, waving, "Long time, no see! Did you all get taller?"

Sho just gave a "Tch," and nothing else.

Chie was the first to react verbally, "Can you not just stay in jail?!" she yelled.

Kanji followed suit. "What happened to 'atoning for your sins?'"

Teddie kept it going. "How can you bear to show yourselves after all the trouble you've given us?!"

Adachi sighed, "How many times am I gonna have to go through this? Look, I don't know about the kid next to me, but all I'm aware of is that I got dragged to that 'Velvet Room,' same as you guys and now I'm here."

Yu's feelings about Adachi carried a sort of duality to them. On the one hand, Adachi had undoubtedly done awful things to people who didn't deserve it. He was a petty sadist who got off on other people suffering. On the other hand, he had proven to be trustworthy during the P-1 Climax, and he seemed content to spend as long as he had to in prison. He knew he may regret this later on, but right now, Yu decided that cooperating with Adachi was the smart thing.

"Everyone," he said, "Calm. Down. Adachi may be unscrupulous, we all know that, but for better or for worse, I trust him." The rest of the team looked at Yu apprehensively. Even Adachi himself was kind of surprised. He didn't blame them. He had spent quite a while with Adachi, and he had been the one fighting by his side against Hi-no-Kagutsuchi. He had seen first-hand that Adachi was more human than even he gave himself credit for. But at the same time, Yu couldn't help but feel that his judgement might have been somewhat biased. Regardless, he felt that he had made the right decision.

"Fine…" muttered Yosuke, "We'll go easy on **him** for now. But what about Sir Puns-a-Lot over there?" He pointed to Sho, who just turned his head away from the onlookers.

"We'll keep him around for the time being," Yu replied, "It's not like he poses any threat with all of us together. Anyways, now that we're all awake, it seems introductions are in order."

"Uh, okay Senpai," Kanji said, "But before we get ahead of ourselves, what's up with the hold-up over there?" he pointed to the restrained Goro Akechi.

"I suppose we ain't only ragtag bunch of misfits here, are we?" Labrys said.

"No," said Yu, "I suppose we're not." He extended his hand, "All things considered, it's nice to see you again Labrys."

She took Yu's and shook it.

"Likewise, Yu-kun."

"Wait!" called Sakamoto out of nowhere, "Is that a robot and… God DAMN, is that **Risette**?! She looks so… young!"

Yu groaned. This was going to get complicated.

* * *

11:50 PM

In the end, the other group agreed to let Akechi go, but not before restraining him. At Kurusu's suggestion, the twin-tailed girl had pulled a whip out of her bag and used it to tie up Akechi. Kurusu then suggested for everyone to look in their bags, and everyone had found a wallet, an archaic cell phone, their preferred clothing (sans school uniforms), and their weapons. The Investigation Team also had their glasses as well. After getting everything in order, they all sat down and began introductions.

Yu kicked things off "My name is Yu Narukami."

"Yosuke Hanamura!" Yosuke said, giving a thumbs up.

"I'm Chie Satonaka!" Chie said with a toothy grin.

"Yukiko Amagi," Yukiko said, uncomfortably.

"The name's Kanji Tatsumi," Kanji said, crossing his arms.

"Rise Kujikawa," said Rise, "But you probably know me as Risette."

"I am Naoto Shirogane," Naoto said, adjusting her hat.

"I am Teddie!" Teddie yelled.

"We make up a group that we call the Investigation Team," Yu said, "Our goal was to investigate a string of serial murders in the town of Inaba in the year 2011. In the end, it turned out that this man," he gestured to Adachi, "was our culprit."

Kurusu frowned, as did the rest of his group. "And you're okay leaving him unrestrained?" he questioned.

Yu grimaced a bit, "I know it's hard to believe, but he has been working to make amends for his transgressions. Without his help, the world probably would have been destroyed."

This seemed to placate Kurusu's group for the time being, but Kurusu himself still seemed a bit apprehensive.

"Wait," said the brown-haired girl, "If I recall correctly, you're **the** Naoto Shirogane?" she pointed at Naoto.

"Oh, is she?" said Akechi with an innocuously smile, catching Naoto off guard, "I'm a huge fan of your work Shirogane-san! I'm honored to meet you- ooof!"

He had been elbowed in the chest a girl with curly brown hair and a large forehead. Her uncharacteristically violent move had caught Naoto even more off-guard than Akechi's oddly high enthusiasm.

"Continuing where we left off," the large-forehead girl said, "Are you truly the original Detective Prince? Naoto Shirogane?"

"Uh, yes," Naoto said, perplexed, "Is that surprising? Didn't you recognize Rise?"

"Uh..." the large-forehead girl stumbled over her words, "It's just… that…"

"She thought you were male," said Kurusu, "Naoto Shirogane is a famous public figure in our time, and I don't know how to put this, but you look quite a bit more masculine right now than we're familiar with."

Naoto blushed. It wasn't like she actually wanted to be a man or anything; she had already come to terms with that. She just felt more comfortable in masculine clothing. Even her sleepwear, which is what she was currently wearing, was very masculine. (A loose t-shirt and sweatpants) The thought that she would get more feminine as time went on didn't scare her so much as it just made her feel strange.

"What our leader **meant** to say," A random voice interjected, "was that you just had much longer hair."

"Oh," Naoto said, "Thank you, but I really wasn't that concern- wait. Who said that?" Naoto looked around. She didn't recognize that voice.

"I did," the voice said again, Naoto looked in its direction and saw it was coming from Kurusu's direction. But that certainly wasn't his voice. On his lap sat a black cat with a yellow collar. Naoto thought for a moment, but then quickly brushed her assumptions aside and shook her head. Surely the cat couldn't have-

"Hey!" the voice said once more, "Don't you shake your head at me!" This time it was clear. The voice was coming from the cat. Naoto tried to back up, but failed, as she was already against a wall. Interestingly enough, only Yosuke, Chie, and Kanji shared her reaction. The rest of the group barely batted an eye.

"I'm sorry," Naoto said frantically, "Is a cat talking not the least bit surprising to all of you?"

"Why would that be?" Yu said.

"Huh?" Naoto responded.

"It's not like we haven't seen a bunch of weird stuff already," said Rise, "I mean, remember Teddie?"

Oh, that's right. In retrospect, the talking cat was probably the least abnormal thing that the Investigation Team had come across. Now Naoto just felt kind of silly.

"Anyway," the cat said, "We've wasted enough time. Keep the introductions going. I am Morgana!"

The group's leader adjusted his glasses, "Akira Kurusu," he said.

"Ryuji Sakamoto's the name!" Sakamoto said, pumping his fist.

"I'm Anne Takamaki," said the twin-tailed girl, waving.

"Yusuke Kitagawa," the deep-voiced bishonen said.

"Makoto Nijima," said the brown-haired girl firmly.

"Name's Futaba Sakura," muttered the redhead with the overly-large glasses, doing her best to avoid eye contact.

"Haru Okumura," said the large-forehead girl with a small bow, "Pleased to meet you."

"My name is Goro Akechi," said Akechi, with the group eyeing him suspiciously.

"Our group operated from April to November 2016," Kurusu said, "We worked outside of the law to bring corrupt individuals to justice through the use of our Persona abilities and access to the public's collective unconsciousness." He made sure to leave out their title and the specifics of their endeavors. It may have come back to bite him if he wasn't careful.

"So, vigilantes then?" Naoto replied.

Kurusu's face tensed, "They were criminals who the law was unable to punish. We didn't kill them if that's what you're thinking."

Naoto shook her head, "No," she said, "Not in the slightest."

"What are we, chopped liver?" Adachi said, annoyed at being ignored by the rest of the group, "Oh well, call me Tohru Adachi, your resident villain."

"I'm the 5th Generation Anti-Shadow Suppression Weapon Unit #031," said Labrys "But that's a bit long, so just call me Labrys."

Sho just kept avoiding the others' gazes and said, "Sho. Sho Minazuki."

With the introductions done, Yu noticed that the entirety of the other group was focused on Labrys. Right now, Labrys had no clothes on, meaning her robotic nature was totally exposed.

"Uh," said Sakamoto, "I really, really, don't want to be rude but just to double check…"

"Yeah," said Labrys, "I'm a robot. I thought that'd be pretty obvious given what I just told ya'."

"Don't mind Ryuji," said Takamaki, "He can be kind of a goof sometimes, but he generally means well. Generally."

"Uh, Anne?" Sakamoto said, "Not that I don't appreciate the sentiment, but what do you mean by 'generally?'

"Alright," Nijima interrupted, trying to change the subject, "Now that we've got everyone's names in order, let's come up with a plan of action. We're coming up on midnight, so we should probably find some place to stay for the time being. But first we need to scout out the surrounding area and discern our location. Also, we should probably find some place to change into more comfortable clothes."

With nods of agreement from all sides, the group began their scouting.

* * *

11:53 PM

Or rather, Morgana scouted ahead for them. Since they were all in sleepwear, they didn't exactly want to risk being seen in public in this state. Thankfully, according to Morgana, no one was around the area right now, which looked to be a mall, and Morgana had peeked into a couple of nearby bathrooms. They were empty, so the group decided it would be best if they changed in them. They made a mad dash and gradually piled in. Adachi and Sho were the only ones who were wearing decent clothing, so they stood guard outside with Naoto and Kurusu (Also dressed in a T-shirt and sweatpants), whose sleepwear was among the least conspicuous of the bunch.

The air was very awkward for Naoto. Kurusu barely seemed to acknowledge her existence, and despite the bizarre circumstances the groups had found themselves in, he seemed quite aloof. However, Naoto still couldn't help but believe that he had a very careful nature. There was just something about him that practically screamed, "two-faced." At this point though, Naoto thought she should probably probe for information. It would kill two birds with one stone: she would get both information about their endeavors, and she would learn more about Kurusu himself.

"So," Naoto said, trying to start a conversation, "Why do you distrust Akechi-san so much?"

Kurusu looked at her and said, "Why do you want to know?"

"You seem to have a strong sense of justice," she said, "I don't believe that you would be so careful around Akechi-san for no reason. I want to know what kind of person he is in order to take the appropriate measures."

In truth, Naoto's reason for asking that was simply out of curiosity for his title. Goro Akechi, if what Yu had told her was true, was known in his time as "The Second Coming of the Detective Prince." Naoto didn't wish to probe too much into her own future, in fact, she had probably already learned far too much about herself already. But somehow, she just couldn't resist asking about him. This mysterious boy who had practically succeeded her in the public's eyes… what could he be hiding?

Kurusu let out a deep breath, "Fine, I'll tell you."

"Really?" Naoto said. She hadn't expected him to concede so easily.

"Yeah," Kurusu said, "We know the necessary information about your friend Adachi over there," Adachi just ignored him, "You might as well know the story about our liability."

"Very well then," Naoto said, "I thank you for your cooperation."

Kurusu looked down, and in a somber voice began his story, "I met Goro Akechi a couple months after we formed the group. He was working with the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department at the time, and was a prominent public figure. As the months went on, however, I began meeting with him more, gradually understanding his ideals, and we almost became friends. Back then he was a lot like he's acting now; good natured, had a sense of humor, very respectful, he was just kind of a generally nice, if not annoyingly chipper, guy. But things changed around November of 2016. We had been framed for the murder of one of our targets, Haru's dad. He came to our defense when the media was slamming us, and he offered to join us. Well, more like blackmailed us to let him in, but whatever. The long and short of it is that he helped us fight some of our toughest battles up to that point, and he was shaping up to be an asset to the team. But it turns out it was a ruse. He betrayed us to the enemy the moment we were done with the next big job."

Naoto was beginning to see the bigger picture. It had already felt like a breach of trust when Adachi had turned out to be the killer they were looking for, but in Kurusu's case, Goro had not only been a friend, but an ally. A fellow Persona user.

"After I was captured, he tried to shoot me and make it look like a suicide. We had already suspected him beforehand, so I managed to get out okay, but… I still wish it hadn't been true. By the time we caught up with him we found out that…"

Kurusu paused. Now Naoto was scared. It was harsh enough that Akechi had betrayed him and tried to kill him in cold blood, but what else could he have done to be so untrustworthy? Especially with such a cheerful demeanor? Could he be just as bad as Adachi?

Kurusu continued, "We found out that he was the one responsible for killing Haru's dad. Not only that, he had also killed Futaba's mother and made it look like an accident. He had been using his abilities to murder people who had posed a threat to his father, a politician in the Diet. And to top it all off, he had also been using them to set up crimes that only he could solve. All for the media attention. We managed to defeat him, and he seemed to feel some remorse about what he had done, but he died to protect us before we could get a proper answer out of him. And here he is anyway. Giving some bullshit excuse about amnesia, and acting like none of it ever happened." Kurusu was practically growling now.

Naoto practically reeled back from the shock, "I'm sorry…" she said, "I didn't realize how personal your grudge was, Kurusu-san."

She now genuinely felt terrible for asking. She understood now that it wasn't necessarily what Akechi had done that was angering Kurusu, it was how he was behaving now. When it came to Adachi, he was at least honest about what he was and what he had done, even if he was still kind of an ass. But with Akechi, he was practically teasing his former allies with how hunky-dory he was acting. Hell, even she was getting angry at him. She had never really had a particular attachment to the "Detective Prince," title, but it almost felt like Akechi was disgracing her legacy. And yet there he was, playing the fool, acting like he had no idea about anything going on. She doubted that even Yu could keep his cool if Adachi showed up trying to act like that. It also explained why Kurusu in particular seemed very cold towards Adachi. Was that the reason he seemed so distant before she talked to him? Because Adachi was right there?

"Don't worry," he said, "I know that you didn't mean anything by it. It's just… I want to know what Goro was thinking back then, or if we could've saved him. Just… anything but **this.** "

"You know," Adachi said, butting into the conversation, "If it's any consolation, I think that Akechi kid's a prick."

Kurusu took a step back. He clearly wasn't comfortable around Adachi yet, but he also seemed a bit taken back.

Adachi continued. "For guys like me, who've messed up their whole lives and know it, death is just the easy way out. I guess what he did was noble, but if I understand this correctly, then I'd say it was pretty selfish of him to just accept death like that. No fight. No struggle. He knew it was coming, he probably thought you could prevent it too. He acted high and mighty, but in the end, he was just a loser. And now here he is, acting like the king of the world. Ridiculous. I mean I'm not saying that I'm a hero for turning myself in, but I can't quite say that I'm as bad as him. At least, when it comes to ego. You oughta slap some sense into him when you get the chance, see what he really has to say."

Kurusu looked stunned. Naoto didn't know whether he was angry or not, but it was almost scary just how confounded Kurusu looked. She was relieved when his expression softened a bit and he lowered his face.

"You know, Adachi," he said, "I really hope you're doing your absolute damndest to make amends." Kurusu raised his face to reveal that he was flashing a cocky grin, "Because I'd sure hate to have to take you out."

Naoto was surprised. Kurusu had seemed very distant up to this point, but now he seemed quite expressive. He had opened up to her about Akechi quite easily, and he was being very patient and impartial with her. Hell, he had even found common ground with **Adachi** of all people. She could see why his friends followed him. This Kurusu boy and Yu-senpai… they were similar, but very, very distinct.

Adachi laughed so hard that he began hunching over, "Ahahahahaha! Oh man! My sides are gonna split!" He stood up with one of his trademarked maniacal grins, "You're on kid. I'll kick your tiny ass any day." He tried to give Kurusu a friendly pat on the shoulder before Kurusu swatted his hand away.

"Don't get too comfortable yet," Kurusu said, back in calculating mode, "If you think that I trust you you're dead wrong. I was just in the mood to hear someone trash-talk Goro."

Now Naoto was laughing, albeit softly, "You're quite the joker, Kurusu-san." He looked at her, disoriented for a moment, before chuckling himself.

"Heh, you don't know the half of it," he said, "And please, Shirogane-san, call me Akira." he extended his hand to her.

"Thanks," she said, taking his hand and shaking it, "It's fine if you call me Naoto."

"Alright," Akira said, "Thank you, Naoto. Sorry about earlier. I was a bit too direct about your future."

"Don't be," Naoto replied, "It was just a misunderstanding is all."

Naoto was feeling pretty good right now. She had just made a significant positive impression on the leader of the other group, and it hadn't even taken that much effort. Things were going smoothly so far.

"Ugh," Sho groaned, "Gag me."

12:00 AM

However just as Akira turned around to respond, something strange happened.

All of a sudden, the world went… green. And a familiar feeling came across everyone in the group. Turning to face ahead, Kurusu and Naoto then saw something they wouldn't soon forget.

Blood. The fountain that had just a second ago been spouting water was now filled with blood. Akira and Naoto stared at it for a full minute before they were brought back to reality.

"Well," Adachi said, "I suppose that at this point we really shouldn't be surprised. At least this keeps things interesting. I was getting bored of your little heart-to-heart moment there."

"Shut up, Adachi-san," Naoto said, "We need to get the others."

* * *

Three Minutes Past Midnight

After everyone had finally changed and observed the shift in atmosphere, the group met up again. They found that their phones no longer worked. Looking around, they saw that the lights had all turned off and that any clocks they came across seemed to have stopped. They met by the fountain to discuss what they had discovered.

"So," Yosuke started, "Bloody fountain, green light, no power… anyone have any ideas as to what's going on?"

"You know," said Chie, I don't know if it's just me, but… doesn't this sort of remind you of the TV World?"

"Yeah," said Rise, "It's not quite the same, but it gives me a similar feeling."

"Wait," said Sakamoto, "Hold up. What's this TV World we're talking about now? Did we miss something?"

"It's a long story," said Adachi.

"It really is," continued Yu, "And we'll get to it when we find a place to rest that isn't just a hole in the wall."

"Hm," mumbled Sakura, "The way I see it, this feels like Mementos."

"Mementos?" asked Yukiko.

"Also a long story," said Nijima

"Wait," Yosuke said, "Now that I think about it… Isn't this Paulownia Mall?"

Yu slapped himself in the face. He and the rest of the group had been in such a rush that none of them had noticed that they were currently in the mall that was home to Club Escapade. He barely remembered what had happened there, but he knew that it was quite enjoyable. And since they were here that mean their current location was...

"Alright!" yelled Teddie, "Time to show Tatsumi Port Island what I've got!" He then ran outside before anyone could stop him.

" **Goddammit Ted! Get back here!** " shouted Yosuke, who gave chase. With those two going, the group followed suit, knowing that it was best for the time being to stick together.

"Still a bunch of immature brats I see," said Adachi, who was really just lightly jogging.

* * *

Seven Minutes Past Midnight

Yosuke found Teddie a few blocks outside of the mall, standing absolutely still.

"Ted!" Yosuke shouted, "What the hell, man? Don't just run off like that! Who know what's lurking around here?"

"Hey, Yosuke?" Teddie whispered.

" **What?!** " yelled Yosuke.

"Do you remember that from our visit?" Teddie said, pointing to… a large green glowing tower. Where Gekkoukan High School should have been.

"Yosuke!" Yu called, catching up with the two, "Are you two alri-" Yu stopped in his tracks the moment he laid eyes on the tower, as did everyone else in the group. The Thieves were simply confused, but the Investigation Team was absolutely unsettled. It had been a while since they visited Tatsumi Port Island, but they knew for a fact that the tower was situated where Gekkoukan High was supposed to be. Suddenly, each of them flashed back to that day of Golden Week, the night where they first met Sho, and when they participated in the P-1 Climax.

"No way…" Chie said, "What's going on?"

Yu wished he knew.

* * *

Yep, things are finally getting underway. Seriously, I really hope you enjoyed this one. This is the first fan fiction I've written where I actually gave a damn about... well anything, really. The conversation between Naoto and Akira was initially just a short little bit, but I decided to expand upon it and add Adachi to the mix because I saw quite a few parallels and connections to explore. My only wish is that I could write a bit more Sho or Goro, but now really isn't their time to shine. Which sucks, because they're damn fun to write. Now just to be warned, there will be pairings in this, and I will choose who specifically gets paired up. But the ones left over may be left to a poll, I'll see how things go. Anyways, on to chapter 3.


	3. Chapter 3: Outside the Loop

**Disclaimer:** Katsura Hashino and ATLUS own Persona. Play their games, please. They're not mine.

Aight, so here I am again. To those of you still reading after I posted that heavily compressed version of chapter two, let me just say that I am so, so sorry for that. Using is difficult for me, especially since this is my first time doing so. But if I didn't drive you away, then let's move on. I've also edited Chapter 2 a bit to reflect the direction that I want to take the story. Specifically, I edited it around so that Akira didn't reveal the nature of the Thieves this early. Okay, time to get going.

* * *

 **Chapter III:** **Outside the Loop**

April 3, 2009

53 Minutes into the Dark Hour

Outside of Gekkoukan High School

"Akihiko! Shadows to your left!"

"I got it!" Akihiko dodged an attack and began to engage the shadows, and smirked when he saw it was a group of Merciless Mayas. It shouldn't have been too difficult to take out four shadows weak to his element of choice.

"Akihiko! Don't engage, you're wounded!"

"I can go all night!" Akihiko said, ignoring the voice in his mind and charging at the Mayas with his Evoker drawn. "Come! Polydeuces!"

Bringing his Evoker to his head, Akihiko fired, and with its signature blue glow, his Persona, Polydeuces, appeared.

"Alright!" Akihiko shouted, pointing to the closest Maya "Hit it with Zio!"

Polydeuces complied, and fired a bolt of lightning at the small shadow creature, only for the Maya to dodge at the last second.

"Shit!" Akihiko skidded to a halt, but found himself at the mercy of the Mayas, who began to attack him. Individually, a Merciless Maya shouldn't have been too much trouble, but four of them pounding on one person hurt **a lot**. As Akihiko soon found out. As his stamina was gradually whittled down, he heard Mitsuru call out once more.

"Get out of there now! We're done for tonight!"

"Not yet," Akihiko groaned, trying to bear the attacks, "One more time…"

He raised the Evoker to his head again and summoned Polydeuces.

"Again… Zio!"

This time, Polydeuces hit its mark, and kept casting Zio until all the Mayas were vulnerable.

"Shoulda finished me when you had the chance," Akihiko cracked his knuckles and began pummeling the shadows one by one until they were all dead.

Breathing heavily, Akihiko walked back over to Mitsuru. Dammit, how could he let himself get this banged up? It was times like this where Akihiko really missed Shinjiro. It wasn't like he didn't understand why he had left SEES, but knowing that didn't make it any easier to take out Shadows without him.

"Akihiko," said Mitsuru, "We have a lot to talk about."

Akihiko groaned, "Yeah, yeah, I know. Going rogue like that'll get me killed before I know it. We've been over this."

"You need to remember that things are different now," Mitsuru said, "You know as well as I do that it's hard for me to bail you out when you're down, so you can't just go starting fights without any regard to your safety."

"I understand, Mitsuru," Akihiko said, now walking to the school gate, where Mitsuru had parked her bike.

"I don't know if you do, Akihiko," Mitsuru replied, walking with him, "I hope you've realized this, but there are more problems than just your attitude that were hindering tonight's mission."

"Huh," Akihiko said, "What do you mean?"

"Surely you noticed?" Mitsuru continued, "You were more than a match for those shadows, yet they nearly did you in."

"Your point?" Akihiko said.

"My point," Mitsuru said, "Is that you're not alone. Just a single mistake nearly resulted in your death, and if things went similarly for me, I wouldn't be there to bail you out. Without backup, we're both too vulnerable, no matter how powerful we are."

"So," Akihiko asked, "What are you suggesting?"

Mitsuru paused for a moment before she spoke, "Nothing at the moment. I just want you to keep in mind that this is why we haven't yet ventured into Tartarus."

Akihiko stopped in his tracks, "Look," he said, "Mitsuru, I know that we've been having a difficult time without Shinji, but you know as well as I do that we've been improving. Hell, I could damn well take on Tartarus myself at this point!"

"Akihiko," Mitsuru replied, "I understand that you wish to act as soon as possible, and I applaud that, but at this point in time, it is simply not practical to explore Tartarus. Think about it this way. If you're incapacitated out there, it is highly probable that you will be killed, whereas if we bide our time and gather new members, we can make safe and steady progress with minimal risk of death."

"Are you kidding me?" Akihiko questioned, "We don't have time to just wait around! You know that! If we don't do something soon, the cases of Apathy Syndrome are gonna skyrocket! We should at least put this up for debate!"

Mitsuru crossed her arms, "This _isn't_ up for debate, Akihiko. Tartarus is off limits. Our missions will solely be training excursions until we've gotten enough active members for exploration."

Akihiko put his hand in his palm, trying to process this information.

"Okay," he said, "Just answer me this, where are you gonna find more Persona users on such short notice? You know as well as I do that they don't just grow on trees. And Takeba's still nowhere close to actually pulling the trigger on her Evoker."

"Well," Mitsuru said, "We'll wait and see. There are quite a few new students coming in, and we just may find one among them worth looking at."

"If you insist," Akihiko groaned, waiting for a moment for the and double checking that no coffins were around. With none in sight, he waited with Mitsuru for a couple minutes.

12:01 AM

Suddenly, the atmosphere changed and the Dark Hour ended. The lights on all the buildings flashed back on, the puddles of blood became water again, and the green atmosphere had vanished. With the risk of appearing out of thin air no longer present, Akihiko and Mitsuru continued until they reached the gate. They both got on Mitsuru's bike and within a second, they were off, heading towards the Moonlight Bridge and the Iwatodai Dormitory.

This was ridiculous. SEES had been a group for years now. Years! And yet for all their bluster they still hadn't managed to take a crack at Tartarus. If this kept up, people were going to die. Apathy Syndrome would sweep the nation, maybe even the world, and humankind would be rendered a mess of vegetative bodies that couldn't even understand what was happening to them. Time was running out. Akihiko knew this. Mitsuru knew this. Even Yukari knew this. And yet, here they were, unable to do anything about it. Whilst Akihiko was lamenting their uselessness however, Mitsuru's bike abruptly came to a stop. They had just crossed the bridge onto Paulownia Mall's island and were currently in a residential area. They were supposed to just keep going straight, but Mitsuru had just grinded to a halt for whatever reason.

"What is it? Akihiko said, "A cat run by?"

"Yes actually," Mitsuru replied, "It went around that corner. But that's not the only reason I stopped."

"Okay," Akihiko asked, "What did you see?"

Propping her bike on its stopper and getting off the bike, Mitsuru said, "Don't you hear anything?"

Akihiko stayed quiet for a second. Listening closely, he could hear people chattering.

"Look," one of the voices said, "Getting to the school isn't important anymore. What we need to do is find a place to stay."

It was coming from around the corner of the turn leading to the hospital. Getting off the bike, mumbling, "How did she hear that anyway?" Akihiko turned the corner without caution.

"Akihiko!" Mitsuru said, trying to keep quiet, "Wait!"

Around the corner was… quite the interesting sight. A large group of teenagers was huddled together, seemingly discussing something. However, since Akihiko had made no effort to conceal his presence, he had been noticed fairly quickly. At the front of the pack were two boys, one with large glasses and black hair, and another with silver hair. The black-haired boy was wearing a black jacket with a white shirt underneath, while the silver-haired boy was wearing a blue jacket with a grey shirt. Strangely, while the black-haired boy showed no sign of reaction, the silver-haired one seemed quite taken aback. Also, they both looked sort of familiar to the boxer, even though he knew he'd never met them. Weird.

"Mitsuru!" he called, "It's just a bunch of students!"

"What are you?" he heard one of those students say, "A junior detective?"

Turning back as Mitsuru turned the corner herself, Akihiko found himself face-to-face with the black-haired boy, while the silver-haired boy just shook his head.

"Not really," he retorted, "I'm just not sure why a bunch of kids like you are hanging around a place like this after midnight."

"To be honest," the black-haired boy responded, "we were planning to take a look at Gekkoukan High, but we sort of got sidetracked on our way there. By the time we got going, it was too late."

Mitsuru was now standing at Akihiko's side, but he didn't acknowledge her. He was just busy thinking about why a group of students this large would be trying to get to Gekkoukan High. He looked at Mitsuru, but was surprised to see that she was focused more on the faces of the group.

All of a sudden, she spoke. "Would you two happen to be Akira Kurusu and Yu Narukami?"

The two boys reacted with surprise before the black-haired boy spoke.

"Yes," he said sheepishly, "I'm Akira Kurusu and he's Yu Narukami. Why do you ask?"

"Because," said Mitsuru, "I am Mitsuru Kirijo, Student Council President of Gekkoukan High School. We were informed that you would be arriving early this morning, but I see you were considerably late."

More surprise from Narukami. What was it with these kids? They were about as jumpy as someone trying to cover up murder. But then again, this was an interesting turn of events. Were these really the kids Mitsuru was talking about earlier? Talk about a crazy coincidence. In more ways than one.

"Ah, yes," said Kurusu, "Sorry. We wanted to call you, but we were all just so preoccupied that we lost track of time."

"All is forgiven," Mitsuru replied, "But don't make a habit of it. By the way, who are the others in that group?"

"Oh," Kurusu promptly responded, "These are also students going to Gekkoukan High. Some of them are old friends of mine, but most of them I just met on the way in. We hit it off pretty well, all things considered, so we made a stop at Paulownia Mall and wasted a bunch of time there."

Wow, that many high school kids hitting it off so great on their way into town? There was something you didn't see every day.

" _Magnifique_ ," Mitsuru exclaimed, "Me and my friend here, Akihiko Sanada, were returning to the Iwatodai dorm ourselves. We had important business at the school ourselves, so unfortunately we had to go there quite late. We would be delighted if you could join us."

"Thanks," Kurusu said, "What's the quickest way to get there? We're not exactly familiar with the layout of Tatsumi Port Island yet."

"Well," Mitsuru said, "I'm returning by bike, but you can use the train line on the other end of the School's island. It's not a far walk."

"Thank you," Kurusu said with a smile, "We'll meet you there."

"Very well then," Mitsuru said, turning around and walking towards her bike, "Let's get going, Akihiko."

After looking at the large group for a few more seconds, Akihiko followed suit.

"Later, he said, "Try not to be late again."

"Will do," Kurusu replied.

Once again, Akihiko got on the back seat of Mitsuru's bike, and the two made their way to the Iwatodai dorm.

* * *

12:20 AM

Having just arrived at the dorm, Mitsuru and Akihiko waited in the lobby for the new students to arrive. There wasn't really much to do. They were pretty drained from their late-night excursion, and probably should have been catching up on their sleep. But, alas, here they were, waiting. Ikutsuki was unfortunately out late tonight. Had to attend to "school-related business," he said. After a couple minutes of silence, Yukari Takeba suddenly came down.

"Oh, Mitsuru-senpai!" she said, "Welcome back."

"Good to see you, Takeba," said Mitsuru.

"So," Yukari asked, "How did your training go?"

"Pretty well, all things considered," Akihiko said.

"Aside from Akihiko's usual rambunctiousness," added Mitsuru, "Also, just so you know, we're welcoming quite a few new students tonight."

"Oh, really? How many?" Yukari asked.

"If I recall correctly," said Mitsuru, "Around twenty."

Yukari stood in shock for a couple of seconds.

"Wow, twenty?" she said, "No wonder we had that expansion built!"

"Indeed," Mitsuru said.

It was true. The Iwatodai dorms had recently undergone a major expansion as a result of the influx of students. Ikutsuki had tried to convince the other school directors that such a thing wasn't necessary, but alas, he was pressured into it, and the expansion was built. The dorm was now able to accommodate up to thirty people at once. And that had turned out to be a blessing. Since the other dorms were also undergoing renovation at the time, Ikutsuki had been forced to take in twenty-something students moving into their dorms early. It was somewhat annoying, but nonetheless necessary. At the very least, it gave them an opportunity to scout a lot of potential Persona users.

"Chances are there'll be at least one Persona user there, right?" Yukari said.

"Yeah," Akihiko said, "And then we'll get to tackle Tartarus for real."

Right on cue, they heard a knock.

"Speak of the devil," Akihiko said, as Mitsuru went over to welcome the students. Opening the door, she found Akira Kurusu there to greet them.

"Hello again, Kirijo-san." he said, "Sorry for the intrusion."

"Not at all," said Mitsuru, "It's a pleasure to have you all here. Actually, I should be sorry that you couldn't access the other dorm at this point."

"Please," Kurusu said, "Pay it no mind."

"Well," said Akihiko, "Come on in."

And in turn, several students piled into the Iwatodai dormitory. Mitsuru then picked up a clipboard with a registrar for all of the students moving in on March 12.

The names of the students present were:

Yu Narukami

Yosuke Hanamura

Chie Satonaka

Yukiko Amagi

Kanji Tatsumi

Rise Kujikawa

Theodore Orson

Naoto Shirogane

Labrys Aethra

Sho Minazuki

Akira Kurusu

Ryuji Sakamoto

Anne Takamaki

Yusuke Kitagawa

Makoto Nijima

Futaba Sakura

Haru Okumura

And Goro Akechi.

Running this by the group, only a few other students had failed to check in.

"Alright then," Mitsuru said, now handing out keys, "Here are the keys to your rooms. The boys' dorms are on the 2nd floor, and the girls' dorms are on the third floor. Your room numbers are listed on the keys, and you can find your school uniforms and bags in your closets."

"Thank you very much, Mitsuru san," said Kurusu.

However, while Mitsuru was just finishing up her key distribution, she heard some very strange chatter.

"That girl over there… Isn't that Pink Arg-"

"Futaba! Not now!"

The group then promptly walked upstairs, seemingly in a hurry. And once again, Mitsuru, Akihiko, and Yukari were left by themselves.

"Well…" Akihiko said, "They weren't much for conversation."

"They were probably just tired," Yukari replied, "Speaking of, shouldn't we turn in?"

"Yeah," Akihiko said, now standing, "See you in the morning."

However, as Akihiko began to walk towards the stairs, another knock was heard on the door. Walking over Mitsuru opened it, and found a tall man with a long face in a dark blue suit and red tie greeting them.

"Uh, hey," he said with a desperate smile, "I hate to bother you guys so late, but would you happen to know where I can find a place to stay nearby? I'm starting work as a Janitor at Gekkoukan High soon, and I just thought I'd get acquainted with the area, but my original plans kind of fell in on themselves."

"What's your name?" Mitsuru asked.

"Oh," the man replied, "Tohru Adachi."

"Very well," Mitsuru said, "Wait here a moment."

Mitsuru then pulled out her phone and stepped aside for a moment. Akihiko couldn't hear much on the other end, but if he had to hazard a guess, Mitsuru was probably running this by Ikutsuki. After a minute or two, she finished her call and went back to Adachi.

"We've confirmed your employment at Gekkoukan High," she said, "Since you're in need of a place to stay, would it suffice to let you stay in the dorm for a day or two while you work out a plan?"

Adachi was grinning ear to ear now, "Oh, yes!" he said, "I'm absolutely indebted to you! Thank you!"

With that, he walked in with his bag. Mitsuru handed him a key, and he jauntily proceeded to the second floor.

"We're just taking in all kinds of characters now, aren't we?" Akihiko snarked.

"It's not like we could just deny him this late at night," Mitsuru said, "Everything checked out. He's definitely employed at Gekkoukan High."

"If you say so," Akihiko said, "Let's hit the sack for real now. Today's been weird."

Mitsuru nodded, and the group began walking to their own dorm rooms. When they got to the second floor, Akihiko turned to go to his room, but before Mitsuru went to the third floor, she stopped him.

"By the way Akihiko," she said, "During the Dark Hour tomorrow, we'll be observing our new guests. I suppose that's alright with you?"

"Yeah," Akihiko responded, "That's fine. As long as we get results, I'm satisfied."

"Good," Mitsuru said, "Now get some rest. You're going to need it." Having finished, she turned around and left for her dorm. And in turn, Akihiko left for his.

* * *

11:58 PM

April 3, 2009

The following day had been pretty uneventful. Most of the new students and even the janitor had bolted off without a word in the morning, apparently having met up at Naganaki Shrine. The only one who had interacted with SEES for a bit was Nijima, who, if Mitsuru was to be believed, was a pretty good conversation partner; but even she had only stuck around for about three minutes before heading out. Akihiko himself had very few obligations outside of boxing practice. The only noteworthy thing that day had been seeing their missing students show up in the afternoon. One of whom was… quite a piece of work. Really, all Akihiko was looking forward to at this point was seeing if any of the new students were Persona users. Hell, maybe even the janitor (Who had informed them that he was having difficulty finding a place to stay) was a Persona user. His blood was pumping now. By the time he had reached the observation room, which had also required major renovations with the increased room count, Mitsuru, Yukari, and Ikutsuki were already there.

"Akihiko," Mitsuru said, noticing him, "I'm glad you could make it."

"I wouldn't miss this for the world," Akihiko responded, "What's the status on our subjects?"

"They're all asleep," Mitsuru said, "And the Dark Hour is just about to begin."

Ikutsuki chuckled, "Oh, this is thrilling. With this many students, we're highly likely to find a Persona user for SEES. Maybe then we can put a stu-DENT in our shadow problem."

Ikutsuki laughed out loud at his awful pun, while the others just looked on in silence.

"Personally," Mitsuru said, bringing the mood back, "I'm hoping that Nijima in particular might be a candidate. She seems quite capable."

"Picking favorites already, eh? Akihiko quipped, "Though, if I had to choose, I'd say the brown-haired girl looks good. What was her name? Satonaka?"

"Why?" Yukari asked.

"Just a feeling, "Akihiko said, "She seems like she's got spunk. You, Takeba?"

"Hmm," Yukari said, "I don't know why, but I feel like that Shirogane girl is pretty reliable."

"Can't fault you on that one," Akihiko said.

"Anyway," Yukari said, "Take a seat, Akihiko-senpai. We've only got a couple seconds to midnight."

Akihiko did so, and counted down in his mind. The time was 11:59:55.

5…

4…

3...

2…

1…

12:00: Beginning of the Dark Hour

What the four SEES members saw immediately after took a while to process. There was silence for a full minute. It couldn't be. Something had to be wrong. There was no way that this was actually happening.

"M-Mitsuru," Akihiko stumbled over his words, "Are you sure the cameras are working?"

Just to check, Mitsuru launched a reboot of the camera system. There was no change.

"Yes," she said, shock in her voice, "There is no doubt."

This didn't make sense, this couldn't have been real. And yet, it was.

And Akihiko was absolutely thrilled.

All twenty-one of their guests were still themselves. Not coffins.

All twenty-one of their guests had the potential to become Persona users.

All twenty-one of their guests were possible recruits for SEES.

Akihiko smirked.

"Jackpot."

All of a sudden however, a voice cried out, "It's not nice to spy on people who are sleeping!"

SEES turned, but was unable to find anyone who could've spoken.

"What the hell was that?" Akihiko muttered "Are we being spied on too?"

"Oh God," Yukari said, "What's going on?"

All the while, SEES was unaware that a black cat with a yellow collar was walking back into Kurusu's room.

However, what even the voice spying on them didn't know, was that there was one more listener that night.

* * *

Outside the dorm, a man on a phone had just finished listening in on SEES through a bug in the observation room.

"It's confirmed," said the man, "They've realized their true nature… Yes… They will almost certainly be scouted at this point… I'm now awaiting further instructions… Alright, see you…"

The man began to walk away, but not before he was interrupted by a shadow crawling behind him. It was a large, black beetle with a mask labeled "IV," on its horn. A Grave Beetle.

"Oh, not this again," He groaned, "Guess I have no choice."

The man turned around.

"Persona."

* * *

This was another interesting chapter to write because it showcased Akira's smooth-talking side. It's a little weird writing him in such a personable way, but it feels like how he would act in that situation. Also, don't believe what I wrote about Adachi, he's actually really pissed.

Shout-out to Kizoku Seishin. I was originally going to do what The Heartless Wanderer did and have them come up with a cover story right out of the gate, but I figure that will actually make things a bit more interesting. I have mad respect for how HW wrote Chronologically Displaced, but I don't just wanna copy what they did.


	4. Chapter 4: Planning and Scheming

Disclaimer: The following is a fan based continuation. _Persona 3_ , _4_ ,and _5_ are owned by Katsura Hashino and ATLUS. Please support the official releases.

HEY WOW, TWO CHAPTERS IN ONE DAY. Yeah, I figured that just releasing the last chapter on its own would be kind of frustrating since a lot of what we already know is going on is made out to be a mystery, so I decided to release it along with this one.

Now, as you may or may not know, reviews currently aren't working on the site, so it's kind of hard for me to see them until they're emailed to me. This hasn't been an issue so far, and I've received all of the reviews, though one was cut short in the email because of its length.

Not much else to say really. Moving on.

aiyumi: I'm so sorry for spoiling you on those things, you're the reason I changed the description to reflect just how major the _P5_ spoilers are.

Timeless Dreamer Neo: The aforementioned Unholy Trinity is that of SEES, the Investigation Team, and the Phantom Thieves of Hearts. And while there are prevalent elements from other _Persona_ games, such as Philemon, this is primarily a crossover between _Persona 3_ , _4_ , and _5_. The characters taking center stage are all from those three games.

* * *

 **Chapter IV:** **Planning and Scheming**

12:40 AM

April 3, 2009

They had gotten lucky. Too lucky for it to have been a coincidence. It was almost scary just how perfectly everything had gone. All of these thoughts were what was going through Akira Kurusu's mind as he laid on his new bed in the dormitory, once again in his sleepwear, with Morgana resting on his desk. He just couldn't stop replaying that night's events in his head.

After having noticed the large glowing green tower in the distance, the Thieves and the Investigation Team had decided to make their way over to investigate it up close. However, en route to the tower, they had encountered a large deal of shadows while crossing the bridge to the other island. He recalled the group's shock in vivid detail.

"What's going on?" Ryuji asked, "The hell are those things?"

The 'things,' he was referring to were a bunch of large beetles. They were colored black, and had a large mask on their horns labeled "IV."

"Grave Beetles," Yosuke said, "They're a type of shadow."

This surprised Akira. Shadows normally didn't look like this. More often than not, they took the shape of demons that he was able to recruit. But looking at the Grave Beetle, it didn't seem to be able to communicate with them at all. Nevertheless, they were in a bad position. These things were primed to attack, and no one had their weapons drawn. Without the ability to summon Personas, the group was in at a major disadvantage right out of the gate.

"We need to retreat," Akira said, looking at his other team members, "We can figure out how to fight these things later, but right now, we have to regroup. We'll investigate the school later."

And, in turn, the group fled, avoiding shadows for the next hour until the strange phenomena had ended, and their clocks began running again. Somehow, they were only set at one minute past midnight. By that time, they had ended up near the corner where they had been found by Kirijo and Sanada. Akira had been caught off guard when she identified him and Narukami as students, but quickly remembering that Igor had said he would, "make sure that they were put in a position where meeting with Makoto Yuki would be quite easy," he played along with it, and it worked. He had just been thankful that Adachi and especially Goro were at the back of the pack at the time. He didn't know how he was going to explain him being tied up to Kirijo. He was also thankful that Labrys had been given clothing that had seemed specifically made to cover up her robot parts. (i.e. long stockings and long-sleeved blouses) Figuring that they had nothing to lose, the group resolved to make their way to the train station and head to the Iwatodai dorms. Unfortunately, the fact that they would be staying at the dorms meant that he would also have to untie Goro, which he did with very little enthusiasm. And thus, they began their walk to the train station. But on the way, Akira had some questions for Narukami's group. He started with Narukami himself.

"So," Akira said, walking at a brisk pace, "Judging by your reaction, I assume that you knew those two?"

Narukami hesitated a bit before he spoke. "Yeah," he said, "We're familiar with each other. At least, when I'm from. They're also Persona users."

 **That** got Akira's attention.

"Mitsuru Kirijo, head of the Kirijo group, is a Persona user?" he said, "First Rise Kujikawa, now this. How many friends do you have that aren't both famous and Persona users?"

Narukami looked confused, "Well, everyone else behind me counts, right?"

"I was being sarcastic," Akira said.

"Oh," Narukami responded, before going silent.

"You think they might have any idea what the deal is with that tower?" Akira asked.

"I don't know," replied Narukami, "But I would say that's probably a good assumption."

"What about Makoto Yuki?" Akira continued.

"Possibly," Narukami said, "I do remember Kirijo-san mentioning that they had a close friend who died while he was in high school with them. There's a possibility that he's the one we're looking for."

"Alright then," Akira said, "We may have a lead. Now that that's out of the way, what're we gonna do about Adachi?"

Narukami paused. While Adachi was kind of baby-faced and looked quite young, he doubted that he was going to be listed among the students that Gekkoukan High was supposed to welcome.

"Someone mention me?" Adachi called from the back of the pack.

"Shut up, Adachi," yelled Akira, "The grown-ups are talking."

Adachi was now making his way to the front of the pack.

"Aw," he said, "Now you've just gone and hurt my feelings. I thought we were starting to see eye-to-eye Akira-kun."

Akira almost flinched at how buddy-buddy Adachi was acting, but refused to show any weakness.

"What we have," Akira said, "Is a tenuous relationship at best. Don't think that I'm gonna take you out to dinner any time soon."

"I wouldn't be interested anyway," Adachi said, "But I bet that Tatsumi kid would be."

"I heard that!" called Tatsumi.

"Good," said Akira with his signature coy smile, "Maybe I'll ask him. His personality is far more appealing than yours"

Adachi looked at Akira in shock for a couple seconds before laughing out loud once more.

"Goddammit kid!" he shouted, "You're a riot! Maybe this asinine mission will be entertaining after all!"

"Anyway," Narukami said, trying to get back on topic, "I was thinking that Adachi should stay behind for a bit. We'll all settle in at the dorms ourselves and Adachi can come in a bit later, asking if there's a place for him to stay nearby."

"Aw, come on, kid," Adachi whined, "You're not just gonna ditch me, are you?"

"No," Akira responded, "We as a group are ditching you." He then turned to Morgana, who was resting on his bag. "By the way Morgana..."

"Yes, leader?" Morgana replied.

"If you want to get into the dorms with me," Akira said, "chances are I'll have to put you in my bag again. I'll try to clear out some space on the train."

"Thank you very much, leader!" Morgana said.

"What?" Adachi said, "The cat gets to sleep indoors but I don't?"

Akira turned to Adachi again.

"He's not just a cat," he said, "He's Morgana."

"If you insist…" Adachi said, defeated.

"Alright," Narukami said, "Then it's settled."

From there on, the group walked in relative silence until they got on the train and left for the Dorms. With Adachi a few minutes behind, they had no issue checking in since, as Akira had predicted, each of their names was on the registrar. Even those with no academic records in their own time like Teddie, Labrys, and Sho had been enrolled. With that, they all proceeded to their rooms, agreeing that it would be best for them to get a good night's sleep before finding a place to meet the next day.

And that was everything up to now. It had been a hectic day for Akira, if not particularly eventful, but even though he had just been asleep not even two hours ago, he began to feel strangely tired when he laid down on his bed. With nothing better to do at that point than sleep, Akira decided to do just that.

* * *

10:00 AM

April 3, 2009

Akira woke up feeling incredibly refreshed and ready to face the day. It took him about a minute after waking up to get out of bed, which had to be some kind of new record for him. He decided that it would probably be best if he did some morning stretches to keep himself in shape. God he missed actual beds, whatever the hell juvie was advertising as beds he was assured that they were not. It wasn't too long after he had finished stretching that Morgana had woken up.

"Ugh, Leader," he groaned, "Is that you?"

"Yeah Morgana," Akira answered, "How do you feel?"

"Not too bad," he said, "Even if that damn long-nose forced me into this."

"I don't blame you," Akira sympathised, "I was just about to get out of jail and see everyone again. Not that it isn't nice seeing them of course, but the circumstances could certainly be better."

"Slow down," Morgana groaned once more, "I'm not awake enough to listen to all of that."

"You got plenty of sleep last night, Morgana," Akira said, "I think you're fine."

"It feels like I only got 2 hours!" Morgana complained, "Why couldn't you let me sleep on the bed?!"

"Because I was afraid I'd crush you," Akira said, "This is a smaller bed then we're used to."

"Well," Morgana grumbled, "I suppose sleeping on a desk is better than being crushed…"

"Glad you agree," Akira said, "Now get ready, we have to find a place to get the group meeting started. We need to formulate a plan of action."

"Already?!" Morgana shouted again, "You're not seriously thinking of just blindly going through with this?"

Akira sighed. "Well, nothing we can do about it now," he said, "Might as well find something to occupy ourselves with."

"Fine, fine," Morgana mumbled, "By the way leader, why don't you try on your uniform?"

"Huh?" said Akira, "Why?"

"No reason," Morgana said, "I just wanna see how it looks on you."

Well, it couldn't hurt to look. Opening his closet, Akira quickly found the Gekkoukan uniform and held it up. It was stylish, sure, but he wasn't really a fan of the ribbon. Taking it off the hanger and getting dressed, Akira suddenly felt very restrained with the uniform buttoned up. And seriously, he hated this ribbon. Begrudgingly, he removed it and unbuttoned the jacket. He didn't care what anyone said, he was not wearing that uniform to code. Shuujin High School's uniforms were stylish, flexible, and unobtrusive all at once. This thing wasn't bad, but it needed some major adjusting. What a pain. As he was contemplating about the uniform however, Akira's new phone began buzzing on his desk. Looking at it, it seemed that it was Makoto who was texting him.

* * *

30 Minutes Earlier

Makoto Nijima was a very serious girl. She got up early every morning, brushed her teeth, got dressed, and ate breakfast before most other people her age even felt like opening their eyes. Today was no different. Makoto had woken up at a very early hour, brushed her teeth, got dressed and so forth until she was ready for the day. She had decided to take a bit of initiative and find a place where the group could meet and come up with a general plan of action. On her way out, however, she ran into Mitsuru Kirijo, who was just exiting her own dorm at the time.

"Oh," Makoto said, "Hello Kirijo-san."

"Hm?" Mitsuru said, "You're Makoto Nijima correct?"

"Yes," Makoto responded, "Pleased to meet you."

"Likewise," Mitsuru said, "I hope you had a pleasant rest after such a long night."

"Absolutely," Makoto said, "Your beds are quite comfortable."

"We made sure that we spared no expense building the recent expansion," Mitsuru bragged.

"'We?'" Makoto questioned.

The question left Mitsuru had a perplexed look on her face.

"Gekkoukan High is owned by the Kirijo Group," Mitsuru said, "Were you unaware of this?"

"Oh, my apologies," Makoto said, a bit surprised.

"Don't think anything of it," Mitsuru said, "I'd prefer it if you just thought of me as a fellow student. I wouldn't want you thinking of me as unapproachable."

"No problem," Makoto said, "If I'm being honest, I've kind of felt like that before too."

"How do you mean?" Mitsuru questioned.

"Well…" Makoto said, "I was kind of unpopular at my old school. Everyone just thought I was a stuck-up, rigid teacher's pet."

Makoto wondered if it was a good idea to share personal information with Mitsuru. Changing the timeline probably wasn't too wise a decision, but then again, they had been given places in this time period, and they were already tasked with saving a person's life. At this point, Makoto decided that worrying about changing the future was just kind of a moot point.

"I'm… sorry to hear that," Mitsuru said with a worried look on her face.

"No need for apologies," Makoto said, smiling warmly, "Akira and the others are good friends of mine, so it's not like I was alone."

"That's good to hear," Mitsuru said, somewhat relieved, "You seem like a reliable person. Kurusu and his friends are lucky to have you."

"In all honesty," Makoto replied sheepishly, "I'm lucky to have them. I had always felt the need to prove myself to others before I had met them. My family," Makoto carefully used the word "family," in case Sae was no longer present in this timeline, "was very harsh when it came to my upbringing. I had always felt like I had to show them that I wasn't just some dumb teenager, but spending time with my friends made me see that it was okay to stumble and fall every now and again."

Mitsuru's face lit up in surprise went silent for a moment. That little speech there seemed to have hit a bit too close to home.

"I…" she muttered, avoiding Makoto's eyes now, "I admit, I've also felt sometimes like there's a large weight on my shoulders. A responsibility that is only mine to bear and struggle through. But… I've never really talked very much about it with others…"

"That's fine," Makoto said, "You don't need to hurry and tell your friends about it this minute, you just need to know that they're there for you when you need help."

Mitsuru met Makoto's gaze and found her still smiling welcomingly.

"Thank you," Mitsuru said, "That means a lot to me. Something tells me that I may want to keep you close as well. I wouldn't mind relying on someone as insightful as you, Nijima-san."

"And I wouldn't mind helping out someone as personable as you, Kirijo-san," Makoto said, sticking out her hand for Mitsuru to shake. "Yeah," she thought, "the butterfly effect is overrated." If Makoto Yuki was important enough for them to be picked out of time, then socializing with the heiress-to-be of the Kirijo group shouldn't be that problematic, right?

"Anyway," Mitsuru interrupted Makoto's train of thought, "Was there some place you had to be."

"Oh!" Makoto gasped in surprise, "Actually, I uh, meant to ask you. Do you know a place where all of us from yesterday could maybe meet up? Alone?"

"Alone?" Mitsuru said, puzzled, "Well, it's sort of a public area, but not too many people are found around the Naganaki Shrine this time of year. It's just a short walk from here."

"Thank you very much, Kirijo-san!" Makoto said, bowing in gratitude, "I really have to be on my way!" Makoto began quickly walking to the dorm's entrance.

"Wait! Nijima!" Mitsuru almost yelled, "One second!"

"Huh?" Makoto stopped in her tracks, "W-what is it?"

"I just wanted to ask you," Mitsuru said, "Are you comfortable with your uniform?"

"What?" Makoto asked, before realizing that she had, in fact tried on her uniform before she left. She had been planning to take it off, but doing so had slipped her mind before she had decided to get going. She was wearing it perfectly, the only addition being a pair of black stockings.

"Ah!" Makoto exclaimed, "Yes. It's quite nice. No adjustments are necessary."

"Good," Mitsuru said, "I wish you well, then."

"Bye!" Makoto said, walking out the door. Well, the hard part was over, they had a place to meet, now for the more complicated part. She knew that the entire team needed to meet, but she was wary about inviting the Investigation Team. Akira had kept the full nature of the Thieves' secret for a reason, and they had to take a moment for themselves to get their own affairs in order before they had a full group discussion. And thus, Makoto simply decided that she would twist things around a bit. She whipped up a text message that she sent to all of her friends, and then decided to kill time for a bit at the Iwatodai Strip Mall before heading to the shrine.

* * *

Back at the Iwatodai Dorms: Akira Kurusu's Room

Makoto's text read, "Naganaki Shrine is the best place to meet up around now. I need you to leave as early as possible to hold a private meeting. I'll text the Investigation Team and Goro when we've finished. Be there by 10:15."

Looking at the clock and seeing that it was already 10:03, Akira decided that he had to get a move on to be there on time.

"Morgana," he said, "We're going out. Can you find that bag Kirijo was talking about?"

"On it!" Morgana said.

Akira dug around in his own bag while Morgana searched, but was distressed when he heard Morgana cry, "Aaahhh! Crap!"

"What?" he turned to face Morgana, who was in his closet.

"Look at how small this thing is!" Morgana said. Pulling it by his mouth, Morgana brought out the bag. And he was right, it was considerably smaller than Akira was used to. It could probably fit a couple books or a laptop, but definitely not Morgana.

"I'll buy a new one before school starts," Akira said, "For now, you'll just have to walk."

"Fine…" Morgana said weakly.

Quickly packing his current book bag with his necessities, (Phone, wallet, and so on) Akira got ready and made his way out the door only to find that Ryuji and Yusuke were just leaving as well. Both of them were wearing their uniforms, and Ryuji had rejected the inner dress shirt entirely, instead opting simply for a red T-shirt. They stopped and stared in surprise for a bit before they were interrupted.

"Oh! You're already up!" a voice called from the stairs.

Looking in the direction of the stairs, the boys found that Haru, Futaba, and Anne were also dressed in their uniforms, with Anne having added red stockings and rolled up the sleeves on her overcoat. They stood in silence for a while longer.

"You know what?" Akira interrupted, "Let's just go."

"Agreed," Everyone else said in unison.

* * *

10:15

Naganaki Shrine

Arriving all at the same time, the Thieves found Makoto waiting for them on top of a jungle gym. Looking around themselves, they found that Makoto had been right, there wasn't really anyone here, and few people seemed to be passing by. It was a great place to meet for now. Staring at the fact that everyone else had worn their uniforms, Makoto quickly snapped herself out of it and jumped down to greet her friends.

"Right on time," she said, "So, I assume everyone's about ready to get this meeting underway."

Everyone nodded in agreement.

"Now," she said, "First order of business is… Welcoming Akira back!"

"What?" Akira said, genuinely shocked as everyone turned to him.

"Welcome back, Joker!" Everyone yelled before they all rushed in to either hug, jostle, or noogie him.

"G-guys?" Akira said, trying to keep from suffocating, "I'm happy to see you again and all, but could you go easy on me?"

"Hell no!" Ryuji said, "You've been in the slammer for two goddamn months! You need a proper greeting!"

"The circumstances may be bizarre," Yusuke continued, "But it is nevertheless a privilege to have you back."

"You can't just expect us to stay quiet about this, Akira-kun!" said Anne.

"What kind of Thieves would we be if we didn't greet our leader back from his first run in prison?" Futaba said with a cheeky grin.

"Guys, guys, guys!" Akira said, now incredibly desperate, "Can we please save this for later?"

"NO!" everyone else yelled.

"Sorry I didn't say this earlier, Leader," Morgana said, "But it's great to see you again!"

"Likewise," Makoto said.

"Please tell me they didn't hurt you there, Akira-kun!" Haru said, "Or that you didn't drop the-"

"I'm fine!" Akira said, knowing exactly where Haru was going, "Look, you've all said your piece. Now can we please not strangle me?!"

"Okay," Ryuji said, "Break!"

And like that, the group broke up, finally giving Akira some breathing room. He hunched over, trying to get some air.

"*Huff* *Huff* You guys… *Huff* are gonna be the death of me… *huff*"

"Sorry, dude," Ryuji said with a grin, "But could you really expect any less? We missed you."

"Yeah…" Akira said, "I missed you all too.."

Now it was his turn. He stood up straight, looked around his circle of friends and said, "Thanks guys. I'm back."

And the group let out another cheer.

* * *

10:25

After swapping stories about what had happened in the past two months, the group organized themselves around the small playground. Akira, Ryuji, and Anne were sitting on the Jungle Gym, with Morgana on Akira's lap; Futaba was sitting on top of the slide, and Yusuke, Makoto, and Haru were sitting on the ground by the sandbox.

"Alright, Akira said, "Here's what's on our agenda. First: The nature of our enrollment at Gekkoukan High. Second: Our continued operations as the Phantom Thieves. And third: The Investigation Team and what they know. Let's begin with this question. 'Why are we enrolled at Gekkoukan High and what does it mean?'"

"Actually," Makoto said, "I think I might have an idea. I think you should all look at your phones. Specifically the text messages and photos."

Confused, everyone Akira did so, and to his shock found not only texts seemingly addressed from his family, but also photos of him with unfamiliar adults in places he didn't remember going with them. Digging even deeper, he found that the numbers of the Investigation Team were already in his phone. Looking around, he found even more people in shock.

"N-no way…" Haru said, staring at her phone in disbelief.

"H-how?" whispered Yusuke.

"Who are these people?!" Futaba yelled in surprise.

It took a good few minutes before the group was able to regain their bearings and begin the conversation again.

"So, as you can see," Makoto continued, "The photos and text messages indicate that we were not merely inserted here to save Makoto Yuki's life, but that a place was instead carved out for us to fill."

Akira took a moment for himself to think. He had been given a new family, one who he did not recognize, one that had sent him encouraging texts, one that had taken heartwarming pictures for vacations he didn't remember, and one that he looked to be quite close with. It almost made him envious of whatever version of him inhabited this world.

"Do you think this is the doing of that Igor fellow?" Haru asked Akira.

"No," Akira said, "Igor's smart, but he's not all-powerful as far as I can see. If I had to wager, I'd say it was probably his master, or the guy his master made the bet with."

"Great," Ryuji mumbled, doing his best to find comfortable position to lie back on the jungle gym, and failing, "We're dealing with reality-warping gods now."

"I hear you..." Anne said, "So we were enrolled here by that god as well... Does that mean this is where we'll find Makoto Yuki?"

"That sounds like a reasonable theory," Yusuke said, "Unless we've been intentionally misdirected."

"I guess it's best to just wait until school starts before we decide what happens," Futaba said, "At this point, this school is our best lead to finding him. Even if it is school..."

"Agreed," Makoto said, "Moving on, let's discuss our continued operations as the Phantom Thieves of Hearts. I assume that the OtherWorld Navigator is on all of your phones as well?"

The group collectively nodded.

"Good," Makoto said with a smile, "Now, as far as I can see, we have two options. 1: Re-open the "Ask-the-Phantom-Thieves-Channel," and resume our activities in this time or 2: Let events play out and only use the app when absolutely necessary. I'm aware that we are most likely going to impact how events play out very significantly from this point on, but I still want you all to consider your options."

"I say we put it to a vote," Morgana said, "All in favor, say aye and raise your hands!"

"Aye!" Everyone said, raising their hands in approval.

There was silence for a couple moments before everyone lowered their hands.

"Well that was quick," Futaba said.

"Quite the anticlimax," Yusuke said.

"Heh," Ryuji said, grinning like an idiot, "You were pretty quick to the draw for someone who said we should consider our options. Eh, Makoto-senpai?"

"What are you talking about Ryuji?" Makoto asked innocently, "I said that _you_ should all consider your options."

"Can't argue with that," Ryuji said, "So I guess we're back in business!" He pumped his fist.

"Alright," Haru interrupted, "Let's discuss the other group now."

"Yeah," Anne said, "The Investigation Team…"

"If first impressions are anything to go by," Akira began, "I would say that they're probably good kids."

"How so, leader?" Morgana asked.

"I talked to Naoto Shirogane last night. I told her about our group's relationship with Goro," Akira said.

The Thieves went quiet yet again.

"You sure that was a good idea, Akira-kun?" Anne said.

"Yeah," Akira responded, "They gave us their dirt on Adachi-san, it's only fair that we explain why we have a problem with Goro."

"I guess that makes sense," Futaba said, "But speaking of Adachi, weren't you getting kind of cozy with him last night while we were walking to the station?"

"Don't get the wrong idea," Akira said, "Adachi's a smart guy, hell, he's even sort of profound, but he's got a long way to go in terms of redemption before he can even hope to call me his friend. You should definitely exercise caution around him."

"I was planning to," Morgana said, "If I let my guard down around a serial killer and got done in, then I don't think I'd be able to forgive myself."

"I think forgiving yourself would be the least of your worries," Ryuji snarked.

"Back on the Investigation Team," Haru said, "What kind of person is Shirogane-san?"

Akira paused for a moment. "She's a good conversation partner, actually," he said, "Easy to talk to, patient, not too pushy, considerate, but also resolute. She's a nice girl."

"If I heard right," Yusuke said, "You two are on a first name basis already?"

"Yes," Akira said with a nod, "Is there a problem with that?"

"Not particularly," Yusuke said, "I was simply curious is all."

"Figures…" Anne said, "Not even even day into the Phantom Thieves' time travelling adventure, and here's our leader making friends with a detective."

"I don't think our personal affairs should interfere with me making connections with our tentative partners," Akira said, "I can't be the only one who's talked to someone on the outside."

"Correct," Makoto said, "I actually talked with Kirijo-san before I left the dorms. I have to say, she's also a very nice person."

Akira nodded. "Like it or not, we're on the same side. The fact that Kirijo-san and Sanada-san are Persona users friendly with the Investigation Team in their time means that we'll likely become involved with their own Persona-related affairs sooner or later. And since the Investigation Team will inevitably become involved as well, this means that we should at least try to get along."

There were nods of approval all around.

"Okay then, Akira," Ryuji said, "But I want to ask this. What kind of relation do you think the Investigation Team had with these Gekkoukan Kids? Do you think they also knew that Pink Argus girl?"

"Pink Argus?" Akira said.

"How dare you!" Futaba yelled, "That girl was Yukari Takeba! Pink Argus in Phoenix Ranger Featherman Victory! She was famous for being the first Pink Ranger to ever be the main character!"

"Yeah," Ryuji said, "That is weird… I mean, isn't the red one usually the hero?"

"Back on track," Akira interrupted, "Chances are they were associated with her as well. She seemed familiar with Kirijo and Sanada, so there may be a possibility that she's also a Persona user."

"Personally," Haru said, "I think that we should also keep an eye on them as well as the Investigation Team."

"I agree," Akira said, "Morgana, if at all possible, I want you to track them during that strange phenomena tonight, that is, if it occurs again. And if at all possible, test out whether or not they're really Persona users."

"Can do leader!" Morgana said.

"So," Akira shifted, "I can assume that we all agree that while the Investigation Team are our allies, we will not inform them of our endeavours?"

Once more, everyone nodded.

"Good," Akira said, "Then let's get them over here for the full course."

"Can do," Makoto said, already typing up a message. "And… sent."

"And now..." Ryuji announced, jumping down to find a better place to lie, "We wait." He then walked forward for a bit, scanning the area, and then bumped into someone outside of his field of vision.

"Oh, crap," he gasped "Sorry, man."

"It's fine," the man he bumped into said, "I'm okay, you're okay. I think we can just forget about this."

Getting a better look at him, the group saw that the man Ryuji bumped into was a tall, well-built man who looked about 30. He had black hair that tapered off slightly to the side, a young but well-defined face, and an earring on his left ear. He was wearing a black suit.

"Thanks," said Anne, "We can't really afford to get in trouble because of Ryuji again."

"Oh, come on!" Ryuji shouted, "When have I ever gotten us in trouble?"

"To be fair," Yusuke said, "His some of his bigger screw-upsh did end up working to our advantage,"

"See guys?" Ryuji said, "Yusuke gets it!"

"Thank you, Ryuji," Yusuke said.

"Actually," the man with the earring said, "I was wondering if you would be able to tell me if this is Naganaki Shrine?"

"Yes," Akira said, "This is it."

"Well then, thank you," the man with the earring said. He then went over to the shrine, dropped a coin in, and said a prayer under his breath. He then walked back to the shrine's entrance.

"You guys are going to Gekkoukan High, I assume?" he said.

"Yeah," Akira confirmed, "Why?"

"I was just wondering," the man with the earring said, "It seems like a nice school."

"Wondering where to send your kids?" Ryuji snarked.

The man chuckled. "No," he replied, "I don't have kids. I'm just a tourist here."

"I see…" Akira mused.

"You know," said the man with the earring, "I've heard that praying here can do you all sorts of favors. Doing better on tests, getting more popular, and so on."

"And you really believe that?" Akira asked.

"The world's bigger than you think, kid," said the man with the earring, "You'd be surprised at who's listening when you pray there."

Just as Akira was trying to figure out what the hell this man was saying, he heard someone call his name. Someone slightly familiar.

"Kurusu-san," Narukami said, walking up the stairs with his group (And Goro), "I hope I'm not too late."

"Not at all," Kurusu said, "Our group just had a little outing before we headed here is all."

"Well," said the man with the earring, "I'll leave you just alone now. Sorry for rambling at you."

And like that, the strange earring man had left.

* * *

That man then began to walk towards the nearest hotel before he pulled out his phone. He dialed a number and held it to his ear. It picked up on the second ring.

"Hello?" came a female voice from the other end, "Is this who I think it is?"

"Tamaki," the man said, a bit irate at her coyness, "You know exactly who it is."

"Okay," Tamaki said, "Just making sure. So what's the status on those kids?"

"I've found them," said the man, pulling pictures of the Investigation Team and Phantom Thieves from his pocket. "And they're enrolled in Gekkoukan High. Just as Philemon planned. I'm now standing by until further instructions are given. You?"

"Me?" said Tamaki, "Well, me, Rei, and Kyouji are well on our way to Sumaru City, but we're stuck in traffic. We called ahead and all and…"

"Let me guess," the man said, "Amano just told you to 'keep positive?'"

"Yep," Tamaki said "She's the same as always."

"Good to hear," said the man, "How're Kyouji and Rei holding up?"

"Kyouji's doing fine," Tamaki responded, "But he keeps telling us not to call him that."

"Well," the man said, a bit annoyed, "Then you tell him that that's his name and it's too complicated to call him anything else."

"Noted," Tamaki said, "And Rei's doing fine."

"Alright," said the man, "Before I go, Tamaki, I just wanna ask you one thing."

"What's that?" asked Tamaki.

"I just…" the man stumbled over his words, "I just want to know what happened at Karukozaka High. We've known each other since high school, and…"

Tamaki burst out laughing.

"Ahahaha! Well… Aha! Ahhhh… Why didn't you just say so?" she said, trying to keep her composure, "For a second I thought you were gonna propose!"

"You kidding?" the man said, "You think I'd propose to you right off of the rebound?"

The man was referring to Tamaki's recent divorce from Tadashi Satomi, a boy who she had fallen for in high school that had kind of lost his charm as he ventured further into adulthood. The man always suspected that he only fell for Tamaki because she looked like a popular actress, but he had always kept that idea to himself.

"Yeah, you're not that kind of guy," Tamaki said, "Anyway, I'll tell you once we've gathered up the gang from Sumaru City and come to visit you in person, okay?"

"Okay," said the man, "I'll keep tabs on the kids a bit more and see if I can get some of the gang from St. Hermelin to see you."

"Thanks, Naoya," Tamaki said, "Later."

Naoya hung up the phone and continued on his way to the hotel. Within a few seconds of ending his call, however, he received a text. The number, of course, was Philemon's.

"Bug on the Iwatodai Dorms before midnight tonight," the text said, "Make sure the designated individuals are all scouted. You will find the necessary tools in your hotel room."

Naoya thought for a moment before he determined the best time to bug the dorms, and continued on his way. But strangely enough, while he was walking back, a blur of black and red rushed past him, looking behind him it looked like… A girl in a Gekkoukan High uniform… dragging another girl in a Gekkoukan High uniform.

* * *

Back at the Shrine

"Alright," Narukami said, "I think that we should start this meeting off with…"

In an instant, two girls in Gekkoukan High uniforms ran up the stairs. Or rather, one ran up the stairs dragging the other behind her by the collar.

"Greetings," the dragging girl said, coming to a stop, "It is truly a delight to see you all once again."

Kurusu was caught off guard. Who was this girl? And who was she dragging?

"I apologize for arriving late to the group meeting," the girl said, "But unfortunately I was occupied with fetching our guide to this new time period."

The girl had white hair in a bob cut, and yellow eyes so bright they almost seemed unnatural. One thing was for sure, this girl was related to Lavenza. Something like this couldn't be a coincidence. Suddenly, Akira noticed that the faces of the Investigation Team were going white.

"Yu?" Hanamura asked, "Is that…?"

"Yes," Narukami answered, "It's Elizabeth."

"You remember me?" Elizabeth said, "Oh, how honored I feel!"

"Elizabeth," Narukami said seriously, "What are you doing here?"

"To be frank," said Elizabeth "Although my name is still Elizabeth, and not Frank, I am here because I want to fulfill the same mission that you have been given. But oh, where are my manners? Allow me to introduce my friend."

"How am I your friend?" the girl behind Elizabeth said, in a voice that sounded a bit too close to Rise's for comfort, "I don't even know who you are."

"Now now," Elizabeth chided, "I'm sure that we'll get along just fine, so you can feel free to preemptively call me your friend."

Elizabeth let go of the girl's collar.

"So," Narukami said, "I assume that' girl's also here to help us save Makoto Yuki?"

"Makoto Yuki?" the girl said, "What are you talking about?"

She turned to face the group. She had reddish-brown hair, a cute face, and was wearing a necklace and a pair of red headphones around her neck. But what really complicated things was her name.

"I'm Makoto Yuki."

Silence. Absolute silence filled the shrine until Ryuji saw fit to interrupt it.

"WHAT-"

* * *

Post-Script

You know, in hindsight I'm really glad that I decided to go with _Persona 3_ 's setting for one very important reason that I didn't even realize at first. It's the only mainstream _Persona_ game I own. That's not to say that I don't know the stories of the others, because I do. (Thank you _Persona 4: The Animation_ and _P5_ spoilers) But the thing is, it lets me consistently scout locations for specific events. I was having a lot of trouble determining where the PT and IT would meet up, since they couldn't meet in the dorms and there are very few areas that can hold about twenty people who want to have a moderately private conversation that immediately come to mind. Thankfully, I was able to pick up the game and decided that the Shrine was the best choice. So here we are.

The decision to incorporate Elizabeth and FeMC! was a tough one. But I decided that Fem!Makoto would serve a role here other than fanservice this time around. And yes, I am calling her Makoto, since that's a unisex name and I just wanted to try my hand at writing a story where three characters have the same first name because why the hell not? The role that Fem!Makoto plays should be apparent by the time the original Makoto steps into the picture. Elizabeth is here mainly just for fun. I figured since she had gotten a wild card in _Persona 4: Arena_ and her journey was all about saving Makoto anyway, then why not have her along for the ride? Albeit quite depowered. Bringing in Fem!Makoto was also a nice little excuse for why she wasn't there earlier too. You'll find that half of what I do with this story is mainly just for my own pleasure, but I really do want it to be tightly written as well. But holy crap, for as fun a character as she is, Elizabeth is _really friggin' hard to write_. It's not that I can't get a hold on her personality, it's just that I have a tough time coming up with ways to represent it without coming across as unnatural. I guess I'll just have to deal with that. I've made my bed, now I gotta sleep in it.

The conversation between Mitsuru and Makoto was pretty hard for me to write at first. The two are so similar in disposition that trying to base an interesting dynamic around their interactions seemed a bit futile at first. It took me a while to realize that, since Makoto has technically already seen a lot more shit than Mitsuru has at this point, even if Mitsuru herself has known about Personas for ages, then she'd be able to offer Mitsuru a new perspective on how she sees herself. Now I'm looking forward to writing more of these two together.

Now, the reason this took longer than the release of chapter two (aside from this incredibly long post-script and the fact that it was released alongside Chapter 3) mainly had to do with my planning ahead. I wanted to make it longer and include the conversations the group had about what happened during Akira's imprisonment, but that's best saved for another time. One thing I felt was necessary was to formulate the climax and get some notes down so that I would be able to know where I wanted the story to go by the end. Surprisingly, that takes a while, so I unfortunately had to leave you guys hanging for a bit longer. I think I have a good impression of how I want to handle this story now, and I fully plan on making this a complete story and not chickening out halfway through. I hate it when I find a fic with a great premise that just ends before it gets really good, and only death will keep me from doing that to you guys. With that in mind, I think it would be appropriate to inform you of some of the decisions I'll be making from here on out.

First off, and depending on your knowledge of _Shin Megami Tensei_ lore you may have already noticed this, while this will be a fanfic primarily centered on the casts from _3_ , _4_ , and _5_ , there will be characters from the other games, and even some characters from other _SMT_ branches, appearing. They won't be hogging the spotlight, and they won't even come into play very much until later in the story, but they _will_ play a role in it.

Second, there will be multiple endings. Since _Persona_ itself has a lot of multiple endings and dilemmas that come with them, I thought it would only be appropriate to do the same with this fic. But I have to warn you upfront that none of them are "perfect," endings.

Third, and you've probably already guessed this, but there will be some sort of divide between the Persona users. What it is, I can't say, but I'm definitely planning to throw a couple curveballs in there.

Fourth, when all's said and done, I'll probably write a few spin-off fics just for kicks.

And finally, Fifth, the deck will be more stacked against our heroes than it was against SEES during its first run. I won't say how because, of course, spoilers, but just thought I'd let you know.

Anyway, that's all I have to say for now, so adios.


	5. Chapter 5: Induction

Hey people, RobotWarsDiego is back! Now, I want to announce something, and that is that I've found myself an assistant. Timeless Dreamer Neo has proven so far to be a great partner so far when it comes to coming up with improvements to the story as it is. He just started out, but give him a round of applause, would ya? Now, I know the story has started off slow. You know, mainly being about character interactions and such with very little action? Well don't worry because we'll be picking up from here on out. And I'm really excited to write the next chapter, because that's things really get interesting. It's my hope that this will be a really enjoyable story for you all. Hopefully someday it'll be popular enough for its own TV Tropes page. And then a sequel crossover with _Persona 6_ in about a decade or two. Who knows, maybe ATLUS will straight-up hire me to write for them? The possibilities are endless.

Now, I want to clear something up here, the Theodore listed on the registrar last chapter was **not** meant to be the Velvet Room Theodore, but Teddy. I momentarily forgot that Theo was a character in this series. My bad. But unfortunately, Theo will not be appearing in this fic as part of the party. The main reason that Elizabeth is here is that she has the Fool Arcana, and since Theo doesn't bear that distinction, he's gonna be a supporting character.

I also have to say that although I was planning to put this fanfic up on AO3, I'm not familiar enough with HTML format to properly display this story, so that's gonna have to wait.

 **MAJOR NOTICE (** _ **PLEASE READ**_ **)** : I have changed the starting date of this fanfic from March 12, to April 2. Originally I had just sort of done what the Heartless Wanderer was doing, but I've realized that with the kind of story I'm trying to tell, that really won't work very well. So here we are.

* * *

 **Chapter V:** **Induction**

Yu Narukami was bamboozled. It wasn't the 'getting thrown back in time,' thing that perplexed him at this point. He had already accepted that. No. What was weighing on him now was Elizabeth, and whatever the hell she was doing right now. He was slightly grateful for her bringing them Makoto Yuki, who, as it turned out, was female, but what had thrown him off guard was how matter-of-factly she had done it, and how callous she had been. He wasn't exactly thrilled that she had been dragging the person whose life they were supposed to protect by their collar, and he was even less thrilled at the prospect of having to work with her in the long term. It wasn't that he didn't like her or that she wasn't trustworthy, she was just… very eccentric.

"I was told that the Fool Arcana was given strength by the bonds that one forms," Elizabeth said, "How wonderful is it that I have expanded our lovely team? Now our bonds can spread and flourish even more. Oh, happy days!"

"Okay, seriously," Yuki said, "Who is this girl, who are you people, and where am I?"

The entire group was at a loss for words. It wasn't like they couldn't answer the girl; they just didn't know how to put it. Elizabeth had made the situation so awkward that only someone with absolutely no social tact could salvage this meeting.

"That bitch is from the Velvet Room, we're all time travellers, and you're on Tatsumi Port Island. Now can the rest of you assholes do your job and explain this shit?!"

Yu didn't really consider himself Sho's friend yet, but he was going to have to thank him for that later.

"Uh, yes," Yu said, "I believe that we should go through names first, Yuki-san."

And so, the Investigation Team and Kurusu's group went through another round of introductions for Elizabeth and Yuki. The group had all sat down, with most of the Investigation Team on the ground. Makoto Yuki sat with them, seated in between Rise and Elizabeth. And then explanations began in earnest.

"Before we begin, I would like to clarify something," Elizabeth said, "This Makoto Yuki is not the Makoto Yuki you are supposed to save. She is simply here for your convenience."

Great. Just how complicated was this whole thing going to get.

"Convenience?" Chie asked.

"Ah yes," Elizabeth said, "While it would delight me to tell you why she is here, doing so right now is not an option. Such a shame."

"Okay then," Yosuke said, "If that's how this is, what does she have to do with the one we have to save? I doubt that you'd just drag someone who just happened to have the same name here on a whim."

"Yes indeed!" Elizabeth said, "You are quite the observant one, Captain Ressentiment!"

A cold chill suddenly went through the Investigation Team. Kurusu's group, however, perked up immediately.

"Uh, Elizabeth?" Yu said, "If it's not too much to ask, can you please refer to us by our actual names?"

"If it is necessary, Sister-Complex Kingpin of Steel," she responded.

That one almost made Kurusu's group burst out in laughter. Even Nijima looked like she was trying her best not to giggle.

"Seriously," Sakamoto said, "What the hell is up with these nicknames? They're freakin' great!"

"They're…" Rise said, incredibly flustered, "Not very important."

"I disagree," Anne said, "I want to hear more!"

"Yes," Yusuke said, "Consider it a bonding experience."

"Is this truly necessary?" Elizabeth said, looking at Akira. The entirety of the Investigation Team was gesturing various forms of 'no' behind her back, trying silently to get her attention.

"Absolutely," Akira said, "It is vital that you share the rest of those nicknames with us."

"Very well then," Elizabeth said, pointing to Kanji, "Allow me to introduce the Bloodcurdling Beefcake Emperor…"

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

* * *

It took quite a while for Kurusu's group to calm down and actually get the conversation started. The Investigation Team were all doing their best to avoid looking at the other group, knowing exactly what their expressions were. It was going to take a long, long time for them to live this down.

"Thank you Elizabeth," Kurusu said, a perverse grin of satisfaction on his face, "You have been quite informative. Now, for our agenda."

"Right," Yu said, trying to stay as grounded as possible, "We should discuss this Makoto Yuki, why it is we've been enrolled at Gekkoukan High, the nature of our mission, and what we plan to do about it from here on out."

"It almost hurts me that you're calling me 'this,' Makoto Yuki," Yuki retorted.

"Allow me to explain," Elizabeth said, "The Makoto Yuki you see before you comes from a parallel universe in which Makoto Yuki was born female. While I cannot currently inform you of the significance of bringing her here, what I can do is say that all will become clear when you meet this universe's Makoto Yuki."

"Wait," Yukiko said, "Just why can't you tell us why you brought her here?"

"Well..." Elizabeth said, "How to put this...? The wager made by Master Philemon has certain restrictions imposed on it, so as to make it more… Chilling? Filling? Thrilling! Yes, my master wishes to make this wager as thrilling as possible!"

"What do you mean?" Kanji said, "You telling me that your master is just toying with us?"

"Absolutely!" Elizabeth exclaimed, "Master Philemon is quite fascinated by humans, and wishes to see them achieve their full potential in their struggle for survival. Like watching a lion being done in by a mouse!"

Great, this was going about as well as it could.

"So, just for clarification," Naoto said, "You are currently unable to give us specific information regarding the circumstances of the wager because of restrictions imposed upon you by the terms of the wager itself?"

"Precisely," Elizabeth said, "That is an excellent summary, Ms. Killjoy."

Naoto grimaced, trying to keep her composure with a forced smile.

"Please Ms. Elizabeth," Naoto said, "I think we're far too well-acquainted at this point for you to be calling us by those nicknames. Please, call us by our real names."

"I see no problem with this," Elizabeth responded, "I am honored that you consider yourselves to be acquainted with me."

"Wait," Kurusu said, "I think that-"

Kurusu stopped when he noticed the entire Investigation Team glaring at him. He decided that the joke had probably run its length and that he should probably stop before the Investigation Team did anything… rash.

"-that's a totally reasonable proposal Naoto-san," he finished, inwardly letting out a small sigh of relief when the glares died down.

"Are you guys really a team?" Yuki asked.

"It's a bit more complicated than that," Labrys said.

"So, wait," Kurusu said, "Who exactly is Elizabeth? If she looks that similar to Lavenza, I'm just gonna assume that she's from the Velvet Room."

"You would be correct," Yu said, "Elizabeth is a resident of the Velvet Room. Though according to her, she's abandoned her duties."

"Indeed," Elizabeth said, "I have been wandering now for a very, very long time, in search of my own purpose. And finally, I have found it!" She raised her hands in a V shape, smiling like she had just won the lottery.

"So, just to recap," Yuki said, ignoring Elizabeth, "We've all been brought here to save a boy version of me from dying at some non-specific point in the future?"

"That's the gist of it," Akechi said.

"Great, just great," she groaned, "Just my luck to be spirited away here before..."

She stopped speaking, and a look of shock became visible on her face.

"Are you okay?" Akechi said, "You look distressed."

"I-I..." Yuki stumbled over her words, "My memory… It's…"

"Wait what?" Yosuke said, "Your memory? Do you have amnesia too?"

"You don't honestly believe that Akechi has amnesia, do you?" Sakura snarked.

"Not now," Rise said, "Listen, Yuki-san, what do you remember before you came here?"

"I just…" she said, frustrated, "I remember that I was transferring to Gekkoukan High but… The moment I stepped off the train, everything goes black… But, there's this part of me that remembers this thing called, 'Persona,' and I don't know why I know it… But… there should be more there!"

Now things were getting bad. Yuki was now frantic, and it seemed like she was almost ready to keel over at any second. Something had to be done quick. Suddenly, Rise put her hand on Yuki's shoulder. Startled, Yuki look into Rise's eyes.

"Look," she said with a resolute, yet caring expression, "I know it's rough, and this must be hard, but we shouldn't panic. You have us to rely on, and we'll help you through this as much as you need."

Yuki stared at Rise for a moment before taking a deep breath and calming down.

"Okay, fine," she said.

"So, are we good now?" Yu said.

"I'm okay," Yuki said, "Sorry for freaking out on you there."

"Alright," Akechi said, "So can we assume that you will both assist us in protecting Makoto Yuki?"

"Well," Yuki said, "I'm not really content to just let myself die, even if it isn't really me. I may have no clue what's going on, but count me in."

Akechi chipped in, "If you need any advice Yuki-san, please come to me. I also happen to have lost my memory."

"Thanks," Yuki said with a cheerful smile.

"Don't believe him for a second," Sakamoto said nonchalantly, "He's lying through his teeth."

"So," Okumura asked, moving the conversation forward, "You said that you remember what a Persona is, right?"

"Yeah," Yuki said, "It's strange, but I know what a Persona is, how to summon one, and what mine is. Orpheus, Master of Strings. But I can't remember why I know this or where I learned it."

"By the way," Akechi said, "Where did you two come from? Elizabeth looked like she just came in running from out of nowhere."

Yuki shrugged, "I don't know. All I remember is that I woke up right next to a large dormitory with her next to me. Then she said something like, 'No time to lose!' and dragged me all the way here. Before that, the last thing I remember was getting off a train to go and visit that dorm. It was… April 6, 2009 I believe."

"April 6..." Kurusu said, "Do you think that's the day when this timeline's Makoto Yuki will show himself?

"I think that's a reasonable assumption," said Kitagawa, "We can now be certain that Gekkoukan High and Makoto Yuki are linked."

"Speaking of Gekkoukan," Yu said, "We should discuss the reasons as to why we've been enrolled there in this timeline."

"Actually," Nijima interjected, "We already found some information about that."

Kurusu's group then explained to the Investigation Team that they had been given new families and life stories to accommodate their existence in this time period. Looking through their phones, this was found to be true.

"Wow!" Teddie said, "Even I have family in this world! And my name… Theodore Orson… It sounds so regal it's almost un-bear-able!"

"You know that you'll always just be Teddie to us, right?" Yosuke said.

"I don't care," Teddie said, "I'm just happy that I finally have a true name! By the by, what does 'Orson,' mean?"

"Knowing you," Kanji snarked, "Probably something about bears."

"But still," Yukiko said, "It's a little creepy don't you think? That we have entirely new life stories in this world?"

"I'm just surprised you didn't notice it earlier," Adachi said, "I picked up on it last night."

"Yeah," Yosuke said in a suspicious tone, "Before we go any further with this, I want you to tell me what the hell you did to get a room in the dorms."

"Wait," Sakamoto said, "Adachi slept in the dorms?"

"We were just as perplexed as you," said Yosuke, "We were all getting ready to go and meet you guys, and he just strolls out of his room and says, 'Hey everyone, you sleep well?'"

"Okay then," Kurusu said, "Adachi, please enlighten us as to how you got your worthless ass into that dorm."

"Well," Adachi said with a cheeky grin, "I was kind of bored having to trail behind you guys, so I decided to check out what was on my phone. To my surprise, I found that I had recently sent in my resume to Gekkoukan High, and got a job as a janitor a couple weeks ago. So here we are."

"So," Chie said, "I guess that explains everything. Is that all?"

"Wait," Teddie said, "I have something to say!"

"And what would that be?" asked Yu.

"You remem-bear how we visited this place during the summer after defeating that Mitsuo guy, right?" Teddie explained, "And how I had to chase after you guys myself?"

The Investigation Team nodded.

"Well," Teddie continued, "I distinctly recall passing by the dormitory where we're staying right now. And if my memory is correct, it was far smaller back then!"

"You sure that you aren't just remembering it wrong?" Yosuke said.

"Rrrrgh! No, no, no!" Teddie grumbled, "It's much, much wider now!"

"Truth be told," Nijima said, "I heard something odd from Kirijo-san when I was leaving the dorms. She said that there had been a very recent expansion built."

"This is just a theory at the moment," Kitagawa said, "But maybe the expansion was built only in this timeline simply to allow our presence there?"

The situation was getting more and more complicated the longer the group thought about it.

"Actually," Yu said, "There's one person in particular I want to ask about their history in this world."

Yu looked at Labrys, and the rest of the group followed suit.

"Labrys," he said, "In our timeline, you were put in storage for thirteen years after you escaped the facility where you were made. As far as I can see, you're still the same old Labrys, so do you think that means that you have a double out there somewhere?"

Labrys thought for a moment. "My phone has a few pictures with me and a couple I don't recognize," she said, "I dunno what it means, but if you ask me, I'd probably guess that I'm the only me here."

"What makes you think that?" asked Okumura.

"Just a hunch," Labrys said.

"Speaking of Labrys," Kurusu interjected, "I've been wanting to ask this for a while, but what exactly is she? I can tell that she has a human personality and such, but she called herself an 'Anti-Shadow Weapon.'"

The Investigation Team went quiet for a bit, wondering if it was a wise choice to tell the group about Labrys' origins. Ultimately, Labrys herself began the explanation.

"I was created to do what the name says," she said, "Kill Shadows. I was built by the Kirijo group for that sole purpose, and my combat ability was tested on other units. The reason I have a Persona in the first place is because of the Plume of Dusk implanted in me."

"Plume of Dusk?" Sakura questioned.

"No one's really quite sure how it works," Labrys said, "But it's both the power source of the Anti-Shadow Weapons and what gives them their personalities."

"We knew of one other Anti-Shadow Weapon in our time," Yu said, "Her name was Aigis, and she worked closely with Kirijo-san's group."

"Do you think we can expect to meet this 'Aigis,' later?" Takamaki asked.

"Yes," Yu said.

"Okay," Kurusu said, "With that out of the way, I'll ask the pertinent question. What do we do from here on out?"

"Well," Yu said, "It would probably be best if we just waited things out and see where they go. If nothing happens within, say, a week, we'll come up with a more active strategy."

"Sounds good," Kurusu said, "In the meantime, we'll have Morgana here observe the Gekkoukan party and see if they're really Persona users."

Yu had a confused expression on his face. "How can you test to see if they're Persona users?" he said.

"Morgana can only be heard speaking by other Persona users," Sakamoto said, "To everyone else, they just hear cat noises."

"That's how Akechi exposed himself," Nijima said.

"Come on, guys," Akechi said, "Go easy on me."

"Look, Goro," Kurusu said, "You ought to drop the amnesia excuse real quick. We're only keeping you around because we're afraid of what you'd do if we left you alone."

What happened next was subtle, but it profoundly shocked Kurusu's group. Akechi, for a split second, almost looked hurt by Kurusu's words. He recovered quickly, but it did not go unnoticed. If Kurusu's group was right about one thing, it was that Akechi was a terrible, terrible liar.

"Ugh," Kurusu groaned, "Whatever. Moving on, I want to ask the Investigation Team a few questions. First off, you mentioned a 'TV World,' last night during that strange phenomena. What did you mean by that?"

"Yeah," Chie said, "Remember how we mentioned that we used our powers to stop a serial killer?"

"Well," said Yosuke, "Our killer's preferred method was throwing people into an alternate world accessed through the screens of televisions. Only Persona users, or people in contact with them, could access this world."

"Inside this world," Naoto continued, "A person's shadow manifests if they remain there long enough, and will kill them should they deny them. This group was formed to rescue people from that world. If a person accepted their Shadow, it would become a Persona."

"That sounds sort of different from what I remember," Sakura said, "I went through an experience kind of like that to get my Persona, but the others just had to… what was it?"

"Usually," Sakamoto said, "We just got ours through some sort of emotional catharsis. It's… kind of hard to describe."

"Also," Kanji said, "You guys mentioned something called 'Mementos,' last night. Mind telling us what that is?"

"Mementos," Kurusu said, "Is the manifestation of the public unconsciousness. Going there allows us to access the recesses of the human hearts, and discover the root of warped desires. It's how we found information that we used to thwart our targets."

"How did you access this world?" Naoto asked.

"We got there through the use of a phone application," Nijima said, "But we no longer have access to it. And that's all there really is to it."

"I see…" Naoto said.

"So," Yu said, "If that's all you have to say, let's wrap this up. In conclusion: Our goal is to find out what Kirijo-san's goal is in this timeline, and discover how it relates to Makoto Yuki. In the meantime, we'll scout things out and discern whether or not we can trust them here."

"Sounds fine to me," Kurusu said, "We'll hold another meeting tomorrow after we get the info from Morgana. Everyone fine with that?"

The group nodded.

"Alright," he said, "Meeting adjourned."

"Now that we're done, Akira," Sakamoto said, "I've been meaning to ask, why are you wearing your uniform like that?

"Huh?" Kurusu said, "How do you mean?"

"You wore your old uniform perfectly," Sakamoto said, grinning, "Now you look like a proper delinquent. I'm so proud of you!"

"Same for you, Yu," Yosuke said, why are you wearing your uniform all buttoned up?"

It was true, Yu was wearing his uniform perfectly, which was odd considering that he had usually worn his Yasogami High uniform pretty loosely.

"I just like it better this way," Yu said, "And you're wearing yours unbuttoned this time, Yosuke."

"What?" Yosuke replied, "It was just kind of restrictive, you know?"

"Right?" Kurusu said.

"To be honest," Chie said, "I'm just surprised that Kanji's is as neat as it is."

Chie had every right to be surprised. Kanji was wearing his uniform unbuttoned, but he was also wearing it relatively normally, instead of using the jacket as a cape.

"I just thought I'd ease into it," Kanji said, sheepishly, "I should probably make a good impression early on, right?"

"If you say so, man," Ryuji said, "I'd say that you should just wear it how you feel."

Naoto shifted uncomfortably, remembering fully that she had been given the entire Gekkoukan girl's uniform. She looked down to avoid looking at the others.

"Hm?" Rise said, noticing Naoto, "Are you okay, Naoto?"

"I-I'm fine," Naoto responded, "I'm just not used to this sort of thing…"

"Come on!" Rise said, "Don't be shy! You look so cute!"

"It's not that I don't think it looks good…" Naoto said, "It's just…"

"D-don't worry," Kanji said, blushing, "Y-you look really… really good in it."

"C'mon Kanji," said Yosuke, "Don't hold back!"

"Hold back what?!" Kanji yelled, "I don't got anything to hold back! Shut up!"

"C'mon, man," Yosuke said, slinging his arm around Kanji's shoulder and whispering in his ear, "I mean, I know I give you shit every now and again, but we all you know that you lo-"

"Shut the hell up!" Kanji said, also whispering, "Can I not just say that Naoto looks good in that?!"

"Sure you can," Yosuke replied, "I'm just saying she probably wouldn't mind if you went a bit further."

Naoto smiled in relief. "Thank you, Kanji-kun," she said, "It's nice to hear that from someone like you."

"Anyway," Sakamoto said, "As long as we're just making small talk, Imma just assume we're done here."

Sakamoto then got up and jumped off the jungle gym.

"Now if you don't mind," he continued, now walking out of the shrine area "I'm getting something to eat."

In an instant, Kitagawa was by his side.

"I hope you don't mind if I join you," he said.

"Sure," Sakamoto said, "As long as you pay for your meal."

"Not to worry," Kitagawa replied, opening his wallet "I'm sure that that Igor fellow gave us plenty of money to get by-"

Kitagawa stopped talking as soon as he opened his wallet.

"Dude," Sakamoto said, walking over to get a look at Kitagawa's funds, "Are you okay? I mean, if you're still low on cash even here, I'll treat you but-"

As soon as Sakamoto set eyes on the wallet's contents, he stood paralyzed in shock.

"Yusuke?" he breathed, "Is this real?"

"I think it is," Kitagawa said.

The two then turned to face each other and joined their hands in brotherly respect.

"Today," Kitagawa said, confidently, "We dine like kings."

"Onward!" Sakamoto shouted.

The two then turned and ran towards the Iwatodai Strip Mall, and within seconds, they were out of sight.

"I oughta keep them in check," Kurusu said, leaving the shrine and breaking into a sprint.

"Jeez," Yosuke said, now opening his own wallet, "What's the big deal? How can they get so worked up over a little cash-"

"I know right?" said Kanji, doing the same, "They're acting like a bunch of kids-"

Before anyone knew it, Yosuke and Kanji were running after them. There was silence for a moment before anyone spoke up.

"I guess this meeting really is over," Okumura said, getting up to leave, "See you all tonight."

"So we're departing?" Elizabeth said, "Well then, I suppose I should begin constructing my Social Links!"

She grabbed Yuki and made for the shrine's exit.

"What?" Yuki said, exasperated, "Where are you taking me now?"

"I want to indulge in what most human females call 'girl time,'" Elizabeth said, "A mysterious process that brings women closer through prolonged exposure to one another. I have already determined the perfect spot for our 'girl time.' Paulownia Mall's Karaoke booths!"

"Karaoke?" Rise said, now getting up herself, "Count me in!"

And with that, Elizabeth and Rise made way for Paulownia Mall, with Yuki in tow.

"I think I'll look at that bookstore at the strip mall a bit more," Nijima said.

"A bookstore?" Naoto said, "Mind if I join you?"

"Not at all," Nijima said.

"I heard that the Port Island Station has a huge movie theater!" Teddie said, "Anyone wanna come with me?"

"Oh!" Okumura said, "I'd be delighted to do so, Mr. Teddie!"

"Really?" Teddie said, "You're too kind, Haru-chan!"

"I think me and Yukiko are gonna hit Paulownia Mall too," Chie said, "Probably see what kind of stuff they're carrying."

"That sounds like a good enough way to spend my morning," Takamaki said, "I guess I'll tag along too."

"I'm heading back to the dorm," Sakura mumbled, "Gotta unpack and stuff…"

"The last thing I wanna do is hang around with any of you losers," Sho said, "So I'm doin' the same."

"I think I'll hang around here," Akechi said, "It's a good place to decompress."

"The last thing I'm doing is leaving you unattended," Morgana snapped, "So I'm staying."

"I think I'll just walk around a bit," Labrys said, "Take in the view, ya know what I'm sayin'?"

"Why not?" Adachi said, "I think I'll just invite myself along."

"I'm not comfortable leaving you alone with Labrys yet," Yu said, "So I think it's only reasonable that I go with you."

"So," Nijima said, "It looks like everyone has plans?"

Everyone nodded.

"Then I'll see you all tonight" she finished, "Good bye."

And with that, everyone went their separate ways, with Yu's group heading to survey the Strip Mall first, walking at a relaxed pace.

"Well," Adachi said, almost sighing, "They're an interesting bunch."

"That's putting it mildly," Yu said, "But they seem like they mean well."

"You ever get the feeling that they're a bit too nosy?" Labrys said.

"Maybe," said Yu, "To be fair though, I'd be more concerned if they weren't asking questions about us."

"Nothing we can do now," Adachi said, "You practically spilled all of the beans to them right off the bat."

"Why do ya say that?" Labrys said, "They seem reasonable enough."

"No reason," Adachi deflected, "I just think you'd be better off being a bit more cautious."

"I don't really see why we'd need to be cautious in the first place," Yu said.

"And that's why it took you so long to catch me," Adachi said under his breath, "But anyway, I just wanted to tell you about this crazy dream I had a couple of months ago. I was in front of all these weird red gates, and there was this really epic music, and I don't know why but I just started dancing and shit, and then you were there. It was weird."

"Where are you going with this?" Yu asked, as perplexed as humanly possible.

"Nowhere," Adachi said, "I'm just making small talk. I have to say though, I was pretty groovy… Maybe my real talent was dancing all along!"

Yu looked away, not really caring about Adachi's life choices at this point. Curious about just how much money they had been given, Yu finally opened his own wallet.

"Holy-"

* * *

Wild Duck Burger

Meanwhile, Kanji and Yosuke had entered the Iwatodai Strip Mall's Wild Duck Burger. They had finally caught up with Sakamoto and Kitagawa, who were currently ordering the largest available meal possible. Kurusu was standing beside them, not really caring one way or another about the size of his meal.

"I'll take the Jumbo Duck Meal with an XL Cielo Mist!" Kitagawa said.

"And I'll have the Jumbo Duck Meal with a side of chicken and an XL Mad Bull!" Sakamoto followed.

"Add the chicken tenders to my order as well!" Yusuke said, "And a Duck Dog and a Duck Burrito on the side!"

"I'll just have a regular Duck Meal with a regular Moonkist," Kurusu finished.

"Akira!" Sakamoto said, "The hell are you doing?! You gotta live a little!"

"I am living a little, Ryuji," Kurusu retorted, "The operative words being, 'a little.'"

"Hey guys!" Yosuke said, using his 'friends,' to cut in line, "Sorry we're late to the party. You guys kind of got a head start."

"Hey hey," Sakamoto said, "No worries, my man. We're only human."

"When did you suddenly get so profound?" Kurusu snarked.

"Hush, my friend," Sakamoto said dramatically, "Our associates must now place their order. Go forth, young men!"

"Yes sir!" Yosuke said, walking up to the counter like he had just reached enlightenment.

"Okay," he said to the person at the register, "I'll take the Chicken Duck Combo with a side of Onion Rings and an XL 1UP!"

Kanji wasn't far behind. "I'm having the large steak sandwich and Duck Fries with a side of salad, a Duck Dog, and SoBay tea!"

"Good grief…" Kurusu groaned.

* * *

With their meals ordered and prepared in what had to be a record short order, the five young men all sat down in a booth to eat their food.

"Cheers!" everyone except Kurusu said, toasting their drinks and digging in.

"Seriously," Kurusu chided, taking his time with his meal, "You would have all been better off saving your cash for something more worthwhile than fast food."

"Hmmph?" Sakamoto, said, his mouth full of fries, " I cahn't buhliebe that yu'r sdill tryna lecture ush on dish."

"Dood," Yosuke said, his own mouth filled with chicken, "Finish yurr food bfor you start talkin."

"You're not really one to talk either, Yosuke-senpai," Kanji said, also eating slowly.

"Indeed," Kitagawa scolded, "Food is meant to be savored and enjoyed. Not scarfed down as if it were worth so little. I'm disappointed in you, Ryuji."

"Not that I don't agree," Kanji said, "But considering how much food _you_ ordered, I don't know if you're really in a position to take this side."

"Pay it no mind," Kurusu said, "Yusuke's always been a big eater."

"Ahhh… That's selling it a bit short," Sakamoto said, taking a break from his meal, "Yusuke will get excited even if there isn't a lot on his plate."

"Really?" Yosuke said, "Why's that? He some kind of gourmand?"

All of a sudden, Kitagawa's face changed to a grim expression. Kurusu and Sakamoto noticed this almost immediately, and spoke up.

"No, actually," Kurusu said, "Yusuke is an artist-in-training."

"He's got a lot of talent," Sakamoto said, "You gotta see it to believe it!"

"Yes," Kitagawa said, now looking a bit more relaxed, "What about you two? Do you have any hobbies yourselves?"

"Kanji here's really good at sewing and stuff," Yosuke said with a smirk, "He's a bit shy about it though, cause it's kinda girly."

"Dammit Yosuke-senpai!" Kanji said, "Can you just let it go?!"

"Hey," Yosuke said, "No harm, no foul, right? You guys are cool with it, right?"

"Yeah," Sakamoto said, "I mean… I'm a bit surprised that a guy like him is interested in that stuff, but I don't give two craps about whether or not Tatsumi likes sewing or not."

"Me neither," Kitagawa, "If anything, it makes me feel a bit of respect towards him as a fellow creator."

"It-it's not that impressive…" Kanji said meekly.

"Well," Kurusu said, "If you don't mind, do you think you could demonstrate for us some time?"

"Uh…" Kanji was blanking on a response.

"There's no need to be nervous," Sakamoto said, "I'm sure that you're plenty skilled!"

"On that note," Yosuke said, "What about you, Sakamoto-san? You got any hidden talents that'll make us think twice about you?"

"Oh…" Sakamoto said, "Not really. I usually just hang out around my place playing video games. I used to be on the track team, but I had a…" he paused, "rough time, so I quit. I go to the gym every now and again, though."

"Welp," Yosuke said, "At least you've got a hobby. Me? I have to spend half my day working at my dad's big-ass deparment store."

"Hmm... " Sakamoto said, "Where did you guys say you were from again?"

"Inaba," Yosuke replied, "Why do you ask?"

"So that means that you worked at Junes," said Kurusu

"Uh huh," Yosuke mumbled, "It's a grind, but hey, it pays the bills."

"Uh, Senpai?" Kanji said, "You're in high school. What kind of bills do you pay?"

"You know what I mean," Yosuke groaned.

"Anyway," Kurusu said, finishing his food, "This has been nice and all, but I've gotta do some back-to-school shopping."

"Why?" Yosuke said, "Don't you already have everything you need in your dorm?"

"I need to get a better bag for school," Kurusu said, "The one that I was given is too small for me."

"If you say so..." Yosuke said.

"See you, Akira," Sakamoto said.

"Later," Kurusu replied, "See you at the dorm." He walked to the exit and leaving the building.

"Hey, Sakamoto-san," Yosuke said, "Is your leader always such a stick in the mud?"

"Nah," Sakamoto said, "He's not uptight, he's just… very practical."

"Practical?" Kanji questioned, "The hell does that mean?"

"Akira's always been very discerning," Kitagawa said, "But we've always known that when he chides us, he's doing it because he cares. I'm sure your leader acts similarly at least some of the time."

"I guess," Yosuke said, "But Yu's more of the encouraging type I suppose."

"That sounds about right," Sakamoto said, "He's definitely not a 'tough love,' kind of guy."

"Right," Kanji said, "Yu-senpai's always been really positive and supportive. Sure he can be a bit of a dick here and there, but then again, everyone is every once and awhile."

"Believe me," Sakamoto said, "I know that."

At this point, the entire group had finished their meals. Even Yusuke, who had by far the largest meal that the restaurant had seen in a long time. Sakamoto was just noticing this.

"Yusuke!" he yelled, "What happened to 'savoring your food?'"

Yusuke chuckled. "I did savor my food," he said, "It just doesn't take me as long as someone like you to do so."

"I- You- Ugh... never mind..." Sakamoto said, exasperated, "Let's just bounce."

"Where're you gonna head?" Kanji said.

"I noticed that Paulownia Mall had a 24 Hour arcade last night," Sakamoto said, "I'm planning to head there."

"That sounds nice," Yosuke said, "I hope you don't mind if we tag along again?"

"Not at all," Kitagawa said, "You two seem like nice people."

"Solid," Kanji said, "Let's get going."

The group paid their bills, left, and made their way to Paulownia Mall. Yosuke in particular was beaming. Kurusu's group had seemed kind of unscrupulous at first, almost dangerous. But the more he spent time with them, the more he came to trust them as if he had known them for ages. Kanji was feeling much the same. He could barely comprehend just how quickly they had accepted that he enjoyed sewing, but he was nonetheless happy as a result. All of a sudden, their task seemed less impossible than ever before.

* * *

April 3, 2009

11:55 PM

Iwatodai Dormitory: Akira Kurusu's Room

The rest of the day had been somewhat boring for Akira Kurusu, who was now sitting on his bed, waiting for Morgana to get back from his scouting mission. He had managed to find a new bag for Morgana very quickly after visiting Paulownia Mall, and he had even run into Anne and the green and red girls from the Investigation Team. He hadn't stuck around for long though. He then proceeded to spend most of his time afterwards unpacking and talking with Futaba for a bit. He had tried to strike up a conversation with Sho, who insisted on being called by his first name rather than his last, but had been denied outright. With nothing much else to do after that, he had basically spent his entire day waiting for everyone to get back. Morgana had returned alongside Goro, who apparently hadn't done anything suspicious at the shrine, and everyone else came back shortly after. Now here he was, waiting to see just what the deal was with the Gekkoukan Team. He kept lying on his bed, counting the minutes and waiting in a sort of laid-back suspense, until seven minutes later, after the green atmosphere had returned, he heard tapping on the door. Getting up and opening it, he found Morgana there to meet him.

"Morgana," he said, "What did you-"

Morgana gestured a "shh," with his paw, and Akira immediately understood. The room was being listened in on.

"Okay then," he said, "Sleep well. I've got a meeting tomorrow, so I need to rest up."

He set Morgana down on the desk and went back to sleep. Hoping that what Morgana had found wasn't too serious.

* * *

April 4, 2009

10:30 AM

Naganaki Shrine

As it turned out, it was only somewhat serious. As Morgana explained to the team, Sanada, Kirijo, and Takeba had all reacted surprise upon hearing Morgana's voice, which was only possible if they were, indeed, Persona users in this time period. It also seemed that they were observing them to see if they themselves were Persona users, which, apparently, had been confirmed by their party. And it also appeared that they were all familiar with the strange phenomena that occurred at midnight.

"So," Akira said, "I say we confront them on this. If Narukami's team is to be trusted in assessing their characters, this group should have no malicious intent in scouting us."

"I agree," Naoto said, "We have very little to gain by not probing for information."

The rest of the team was surprised by just how direct Akira was acting. He was taking more initiative than they usually would have believed anyone could have in this sort of situation.

"I also see no downside to it," Yu said, "But we'll need to take a while to come up with a way to confront them."

"Already done," Akira said.

"What?" said Yosuke, "You can't honestly mean that you just came up with an explanation just now?"

"No," Akira replied, "I came up with one last night. It took me five minutes."

"Wow," Chie said in awe, "I don't think this is normally supposed to be a compliment, but you're a damn good liar, Kurusu-san."

"Don't flatter me," Kurusu said in a smug tone.

"Wait," Haru said, "Why do we need to lie to them? Why don't we just tell them that we came from the future to protect Makoto Yuki?"

"Prohibited," Elizabeth suddenly said, "Any attempt to tell any undesignated individuals of your mission or original time period will be prevented by means of a memory wipe to all parties receiving the information."

"So that option's out," Futaba said, "Guess we'll be relying on Akira-kun's silver tongue after all."

"Though to be fair," Makoto (Nijima) interrupted, "Akira-kun's expert misdirection has always been offset by Ryuji's big mouth."

"Hey!" Ryuji shouted, "I resent that remark!"

"Okay," Goro said, still acting as cheery as ever, "So our plan is to have Akira-kun lead us through our conversation with Mitsuru-san's group and keep Ryuji-kun as quiet as possible, right?"

"Yep," Akira said, a bit annoyed that Goro was talking, "That's the gist of it."

"What the hell guys?" Ryuji yelled, now standing, "Why do I have to keep quiet?! And why am I Ryuji- _kun_?! Goddammit Goro!"

"I rest my case," Akira said, "Meeting adjourned."

"Well, that was quick," Makoto (Yuki) said.

"I suppose we didn't have much to cover this time around," said Labrys.

"The less, the better, I say," Sho said, "I'm only here so that I'm on the same page as you guys."

"Why are you even tagging along in the first place?" Adachi said, "All you do is bitch and moan about everything."

"I'm here," Sho said, "Because saving this Makoto Yuki guy's my only ticket back to the future, and saving him means sticking around with you guys."

"Quite the dilemma," Elizabeth said, "You hate working with others, yet the only way for you to succeed is to surround yourself with them."

"At least I have a couple of meat shields if I get attacked though," Sho chuckled, "That'd sure be a-ttacky way to die, huh?"

"Is he always like this?" Ryuji asked, nervously.

"All the goddamn time," Kanji said, solemnly.

"Ugh," Morgana said, "You're reminding me of that one guy who made that awful pun last night…"

Sho perked up. "Wait, what?" he said, "Who are you talking about? What did he look like?"

"Hmm?" Morgana said, "Long brown hair, glasses, and a stubble. Why?"

"Well shit…" Sho growled, "Looks like **he's** here…"

"Hold on," Yu said, "Who's this man you're so worried about?"

Sho met Yu's gaze, which was probably the most shocking thing that had happened to the group all day.

"The head of the department which conducted experiments on me," he said, "Daddy dearest, Shuji Ikutsuki."

Now things were making sense. The Investigation Team was well aware of Sho's history with the former heads of the Kirijo group, and how he had been experimented on from a young age. The identity of the one responsible for this had been something of a mystery to them until now. Shuji Ikutsuki, whose death Sho had blamed on the Shadow Operatives, was the one who was responsible. And he was here.

"Damn," Yosuke said, "This is heavy…"

"Putting the experimentation subject aside," Yusuke said, "Does that mean that we should avoid showing Sho to this Ikutsuki person?"

"I doubt it would make much of a difference," Sho said, "He probably doesn't even remember my name."

"Is there even another Sho in this timeline to begin with?" Labrys asked.

"Yes, actually," Elizabeth said, "While Master Philemon has given you places in this timeline, most of your younger selves are all going about their daily lives as they did years ago. But can it really be called 'years ago,' when it's happening as we speak? So perplexing..."

"So" Ryuji said, "If I'm understanding this right, this Ikutsuki guy is bad news,"

"I don't know the details," said Sho, "But you'd do best not to trust him at his word if you wanna get anywhere."

"Even if he catches us off guard, I think we'll be okay," said Yu, "We've got a pretty strong group here."

"Yeah!" Yosuke said, "And we've got Elizabeth on our team! Seriously, she'll destroy anything that comes our way!"

"I trust that you're speaking from experience?" Yusuke said.

"Yes," said Elizabeth, "He is. Though, unfortunately, that is no longer the case."

"Wait, what?" said Yosuke.

"You see," continued Elizabeth, still as sly as ever, "As punishment for abandoning my duties as the attendant of the Velvet Room, I have been stripped of most of my power, and left with only one Persona."

"Which one?" Yu asked nervously, hoping to whatever god actually existed that it wasn't something weak.

"Pixie," Elizabeth replied nonchalantly.

At that moment, the Investigation Team considered just giving up on the entire mission.

* * *

11:50 PM

Iwatodai Dormitory Lobby

The meeting didn't really last for very long after that, and the group just talked a bit about their excursions the day before. Makoto (Nijima) and Naoto had found a large deal of good reading material, and had gotten a bit friendly with the owners of the store. Teddie and Haru had gone to see a corny action flick, and to the surprise of the Investigation Team girls, Haru seemed totally at ease with Teddie, as opposed to put off by his incredibly direct flirting. Rise, Elizabeth, and Makoto (Yuki), had apparently taken a detour to buy some new clothes for the two late arrivals (so as to not arouse suspicion with their already-procured uniforms) and to get them checked in before they had their girl time, a process that was exacerbated by Elizabeth's conversational skills (Or lack thereof). When they finally arrived at Mandragora, they had apparently a fun time at the karaoke booth, and they all felt a bit more courageous after the matter. Morgana had failed to get any information from Goro while they were at the shrine, and Chie, Yukiko, and Anne hadn't really managed to find anything worth looking for at the mall so far.

Eventually, after another uneventful day of wandering around Tatsumi Port Island, the time came for them to return to the dorms and confront Mitsuru Kirijo about her observation of them. From there on, they all hung around making more small talk in the lobby, spread out among the many couches and chairs. And then finally, Kirijo, Sanada, Takeba, and Ikutsuki returned, each carrying two briefcases. They were surprised to see that Akira looked as if he was expecting them. He almost had the look of some sort of criminal mastermind who had just put his plans into action.

"Welcome back, Kirijo-san," Akira said from the couch, "We have a lot to talk about."

Kirijo's group was silent for a moment, not knowing how to address Akira's odd statement.

"What do you mean?" Kirijo said, as confused as anyone would be in such a situation.

"I mean," Akira said, "That I want to know why you were spying on us last night."

Kirijo's group was taken aback. They hadn't expected to have been approached by their candidates themselves, and were almost scared at what said candidates might try to do if their answers were unable to placate them.

"How did you know?" Kirijo said.

"We'll discuss that later," replied Akira, "But first, have a seat."

Apprehensively, Kirijo's party all sat down on the nearest couch, setting down the cases and facing Akira, who was sitting back in his chair looking as if he was without a single care in the world. They were surrounded on all sides by the other students, who almost looked like they were ready to pounce on them if they made the wrong move. In reality, they were all just staying quiet so as not to interrupt Akira's scheme.

"Your friends are awfully quiet," Sanada noticed, "What's up with that?"

"Nothing," Akira said, "We just decided it would be more efficient to have one person asking the questions. Now I'll ask again. Why were you spying on us last night?"

Ikutsuki cleared his throat. "Would you believe me if I told you that a day had more than 24 hours?" he said.

"Normally, no," Akira responded, "But lately I've been thinking that such a thing isn't so outlandish after all."

"As expected," Kirijo said, "It seems that you did experience the Dark Hour after all."

Alright, some information right off the bat.

"So that's what that phenomena at midnight is called?" Akira said, "The Dark Hour?"

"Yeah," said Takeba, "It happens at midnight every night, but most people don't know about it, since they turn into coffins. But if someone somehow exits their coffin, Shadows will attack them."

"Shadows?" Akira said, feigning ignorance, "I think I know what you're talking about, but please elaborate."

"Shadows are, simply put, malevolent monsters that attack anyone who isn't in their coffin during the Dark Hour," Sanada added, "Most people who get attacked by them will be left in a vegetative state called Apathy Syndrome."

"Thus," Ikutsuki said, "Our goal is to stop the Dark Hour before Apathy Syndrome becomes too widespread to handle."

"And this has to do with you spying on us because...?" Akira prodled.

"Because you can help us fight them," Kirijo said.

Akira knew that this probably had to do with being able to summon a Persona, but he continued to play the fool.

"Why?" Akira said, "Because we didn't turn into coffins? I hate to say it, but we ran into these things on our way into town, and we could barely scratch them."

"I don't think you realize just what not turning into a coffin means," Kirijo retorted, "It indicates that you have the potential to awaken a power that can defeat the Shadows."

"And what is this power?" Akira said, knowing the answer.

"We call it 'Persona,'" Ikutsuki answered, "It allows you to summon a manifestation of the facade that one uses to bear the burdens of everyday life."

Old news. The conversation needed to move forward.

"I didn't know I was walking into a lecture about Jungian psychology," Akira quipped, before mumbling under his breath, "Though that would explain what the cat said…"

"Pardon?" Mitsuru said.

"Nothing," Akira 'corrected', "Please continue about this, 'Persona,' power." He almost hated having to be so manipulative, but it was necessary to keep up the ruse. And it was actually pretty fun.

"As outlandish as it sounds," Takeba said, "It's true. Though, to be honest, I haven't summoned mine yet…"

"Personas not only enhance the physical capabilities of their users," Akihiko said, "But also let them use magic. And the Dark Hour is the best place to summon them."

"Which brings us to now," Kirijo said, "Our group, SEES, the Specialized Extracurricular Execution Squad, is the only defense against the Shadows. Aside from Ikutsuki here, who has been trained to enter the Dark Hour, we are all composed of Persona users. Unfortunately, we're too short on active members right now to make any significant impact. And we've yet to explore the most mysterious part of the Dark Hour. Tartarus."

Finally, something interesting had popped up.

"Tartarus?" Akira said, now genuinely curious, "You're not talking about that giant tower where Gekkoukan High should be, are you?"

"Exactly," Sanada said, "It's where most of the Shadows gather, like a nest. And we think it holds the key to ending the Dark Hour."

"Why?" Akira said, "Do you mean to suggest that the Shadows themselves created the Dark Hour?"

"To be quite honest," Ikutsuki said, "We're not sure ourselves. It's simply the best course of action to explore it right now."

"But the reason we haven't explored it yet," Kirijo continued, "Is because we've been understaffed. I'm needed on the first floor for support purposes, and Akihiko is currently our only combat operative. As such, we've been desperate to find new Persona users to add to our ranks. Which is why we were observing you all last night."

"So now that you all know about this," Ikutsuki said, as the group brought up the cases onto the table between them and Akira, "We must ask you this." He then bowed slightly, "Would you please consider joining SEES?"

Akira studied the cases as if he expected them to explode.

"Go on," Sanada said to Akira, pushing one forward, "Open it."

Akira slowly leaned forward and opened the case with caution. Looking inside it, he found a gun, a holster, and a red armband.

"What you see there is an Evoker," Kirijo said, "It's the method by which we can summon our Personas. All you have to do is put it to your head and pull the trigger during the Dark Hour."

Picking it up, Akira said, "Well, that's a little morbid, don't you think?"

"Why don't you try it out for yourself?" Sanada challenged, "The Dark Hour's coming up soon."

"Hmm…" Akira mumbled, almost disappointedly. He was glad to finally have access to a method of summoning his Persona, but compared to simply ripping a mask off, this seemed a little impractical, especially considering that he had a gun himself. He was almost worried about using it now.

"Are you sure this is the only way to summon a Persona?" he asked.

"Theoretically," Ikutsuki answered, "One should be able to forego the use of an Evoker with enough practice. They may even reach a point where they're able to summon Personas outside of the Dark Hour."

Now things were looking up. Hell, they were looking even better than imagined. Akira didn't think he would need it, but the prospect of being able to manifest his Persona in the normal world was thrilling. The first thing he was gonna do with this Evoker was practice with it until he didn't need it anymore.

"Alright," Akira said, "I'll test this thing out. How long until midnight?"

Checking her watch, Kirijo said, "Only a few seconds now."

Right on cue.

12:00

Beginning of the Dark Hour

The room was quiet as the Dark Hour spread across the world. Akira could hear everyone in the room breathing. He nervously looked at the Evoker, which now seemed heavy in his hand.

"Well," Sanada said, "Go on. You've only got 59 minutes left."

Slowly, Akira gripped the Evoker, pointed it at a wall, and fired. All that came out was a small click. He tried again, and again, and again, all to the same results.

SEES was stunned. Out of all the Persona users they had seen, not one of them had actually done that before awakening their Persona for the first time. Now it seemed like the most obvious thing in the world.

"Just checking," Akira said earnestly, before pointing it at his head for real.

He breathed in deeply, heart pounding, and forehead sweating. Even though he knew that the Evoker wasn't loaded, he nonetheless felt like he was staring death in the face. He was nervous. Nervous that he was going to die even though he knew that he was safe. He didn't understand. Why was he so worked up over a fake gun?

And then it hit him.

That was the trick.

That was how the Evoker worked.

And that was what he had to overcome.

A smile spread across his face.

He laughed softly.

His eyes went wide.

And his finger pressed down on the trigger.

"Arsene."

Recoil. Recoil hit the side of Akira's head. It wasn't painful, but was nonetheless unexpected. However, it was offset by the pleasure of finally bearing witness to his partner reborn.

"I am thou... Thou art I…"

There in the air, in his blood-red suit, white and black mask, and long top hat was Arsene, given new life by the Evoker. New life oozing with power.

SEES reeled in shock. Akira Kurusu's Persona was strong. They could tell just by looking at it. Its presence was both ominous and imposing, and they had never felt that in the presence of any other Persona that they had seen. The others were simply feigning awe.

Arsene levitated in the air for a full minute before disappearing. At this point, Akira was breathing fast, trying to get enough air to speak. After a few seconds, he did.

"I'm in."

"Splendid!" Ikutsuki said, breaking the ice, "Now, the rest of you have been mighty quiet. Who else wants to try to summon their Persona? We were only able to procure eight Evokers for you all thus far, so first come, first serve!"

After yet another moment of silence, Yu Narukami stepped forward and opened a case.

"I'll do it," he said, picking up his Evoker.

He was followed by Makoto Yuki.

"Me too," she said, doing the same.

Makoto was in turn followed by Goro Akechi.

"I'd also like to summon my Persona," he said, earning glares from the Thieves as he opened his own case.

Futaba Sakura crept forward.

"Count me in too." she said, taking her case off the table.

Naoto Shirogane calmly stepped forth.

"I'll volunteer as well," she calmly spoke, opening her own case delicately.

Makoto Nijima was close behind.

"I'm taking one as well," she said, taking her own case from the table.

And finally, Tohru Adachi finished it off.

"You snooze, you lose," he mocked, slinging his own case over his shoulder before walking back to his seat.

"Good," Kirijo said, "I assume there are no objections?"

The remaining Persona users shook their heads.

"Very well then," she said, turning to the lucky winners, "Now show us what you can do."

Yu stepped forward, placing his own Evoker to his head. Given new courage through Akira's example, he pulled the trigger almost immediately.

"Izanagi!"

* * *

30 Minutes into the Dark Hour

After Yu, Goro, Adachi, Makoto (Nijima), Futaba, Makoto (Yuki), and Naoto had gone, SEES had seen quite enough to confirm that they truly had hit the jackpot. Each of the candidates seen so far were strong. Powerful enough to begin operations almost immediately. Their scouting had been a great success.

"Thank you all very much," Ikutsuki said as Naoto's Persona faded, "That was more than sufficient."

"We're pretty lucky," Takeba said, "Not only do we have a good range of abilities, but we've also got someone who can provide support too."

"Yeah," Sanada said, "Looks like you can get back in the action, eh Mitsuru?"

"Indeed," Mitsuru said with a smirk, "I thank you all for your cooperation."

"You're welcome," Yu said, "So now what?"

"Well, we're already well into the Dark Hour," said Ikutsuki, "So I think it would be prudent for us to all get some rest soon."

"We'll prepare more Evokers for the rest of you," Kirijo said, "But in the meantime, you eight can keep those. Don't let anyone else see you with them."

"So… is that it?" Akira asked, genuinely curious.

"Yep," Sanada answered, "Not much else to say right now. Rest up. You've got a long haul ahead of you."

"Actually," Kirijo said, "I need to ask my question again. How did you know we were spying on you?"

"Oh, that," Akira said, "We had a cat spy on **you**."

"A cat?" Sanada said, "How could a cat tell you-"

"How many times do I have to say it?!" Morgana, who had been hiding behind the counter, said "I'm not a cat! I'm Morgana!"

Looking behind them, SEES was treated to yet another curveball. A cat. Talking. Well, to be fair, Ikutsuki only heard meowing.

"I know," Akira said, "We ran into him when we first entered the Dark Hour. He was going on about how only Persona users could hear him. I didn't understand what that meant until now."

"I guess that explains why I'm not hearing anything right now," Ikutsuki said, "What a cat-tastrophy!"

Akira went slack-jawed for a moment.

"Just like him…" he whispered.

"What was that?" Ikutsuki asked.

"Nothing…" Akira said, exhausted, "If you're wondering why we spied on you in the first place, it's because Morgana here insisted. He said that he felt something weird about you guys."

"I assume that the reason you were all grouped together was because you all found each other during the Dark Hour?" Kirijo asked.

"Yeah," Akira said, "I mean, why else would a bunch of high school kids stick together like that, huh?"

"I thought that was kind of odd," Sanada said.

"And those two?" Takeba said, looking at Makoto (Yuki) and Elizabeth.

"They just overheard us talking at the shrine," Akira continued to lie, "They had gotten stuck near Port Island Station, and were wandering around all morning."

"Regardless," Ikutsuki interrupted, "I'm sure that you need some time to take in this information, and it's getting quite late. I say we all go to bed."

"Very well," Akira said, getting up and walking to the stairs. Everyone else expressed their agreement, tired from having to just listen and keep silent for so long.

"Wait," Kirijo said, walking over to Akira, "Before you turn in, I have one last thing to say." She extended her hand.

Akira took it, surrounded by the confused gazes of his teammates, and not fully understanding what she was getting at.

"What's that?" he said.

"Welcome to SEES."

* * *

OP: Hello World!

Normal=Visual

 _Italics=Lyrics_

 _Tobira hirakeba nejireta hiru no yoru kinou douyatte kaetta karada dake ga tashika_

The scene opens to show various scenes of Shinjuku at night, the people seen moving at a very fast pace as time continues to march on.

 _Ohayou korekara mata maigo no tsuzuki minareta shiranai keshiki no naka de_

The scene changes to show the town of Inaba in the morning as the people begin their day, before the scene turns black and white and is consumed by blue flames

 _*instrumental*_

The scene changes to show various Persona Cards in a pile as the scene zooms out and reveals a scene of Tatsumi Port Island, the yellowish-green moon of the Dark Hour hanging over it ominously.

 _mou dame tte omotte kara wari to nanda ka yareteru shinikiranai kurai ni joubu nanika chotto hazukashii_

The scene shows a quick scene of a blue butterfly before changing to show a crowd of people walking in the streets of Iwatodai, before the scene shifts as the Dark Hour takes effect, and the people turn into coffins, revealing Makoto Yuki walking through the 'crowd', the scene shows a close up of his face, his expression neutral. The scene then shifts back out, revealing Yu and Akira in the 'crowd' as well, their backs turn, before they turn to face the screen (Yu has a small smile on his face, while Akira has a slight frown)

 _yaru beki koto wa wasureteite mo wakaru_

The scene changes to show photos of the members of SEES going about their daily lives (Yukari walking along the shops in Iwatodai Station, Junpei playing games in the Arcade, Akihiko training in the school gym, Mitsuru getting out of a limousine, Fuuka reading on a bench, Koromaru sitting by the steps of Naganaki Shrine, Ken visiting his mother's grave, Shinjiro sitting in an alleyway, and Aigis standing by the ocean)

 _sou shinai to totemo kurushii kara_

The scene shows Makoto Yuki once again walking through a crowd, behind him faded images of Makoto Yuki (female) and Elizabeth are seen walking away before vanishing.

 _kao o agete kuroi me no hito kimi ga mita kara hikari wa umareta_

The scene changes to show a scene of city life going at an accelerated speed, as quick images of Naoya, Kyouji, Tamaki, Tatsuya, and Maya are seen, followed by a brief shot of Igor followed by Philemon. The scene then changes to see the Investigation Team standing together in the Peaceful TV World, all of them smiling happily, before the scene shifts to show the Phantom Thieves of Hearts standing around the entrance to Mementos, their expressions confident.

 _eranda iro de nutta sekai ni kakomarete erabenai kizu no imi wa doko darou_

The scene changes to show Makoto standing in Tartarus, sword and Evoker in hand as around him members of SEES, the Investigation Team, and the Phantom Thieves of Hearts all fight against various shadows, explosions and dust being kicked up all around them, before the background shifts to show 12 silhouettes under the full moon.

 _gojibun dake ga HIIROO sekai no mannaka de_

The scene changes to show Takaya smirking as he aims and fires at the screen, before the scene shifts out to show him standing alongside Jin and Chidori, with several shadowed figures seen behind them, followed by a scene of another shadowed figure floating over a void.

 _owaru made dezuppari SUTEEJI no ue_

The scene changes to show Gekkoukan High, as shots of the various Social Links are seen, ending with a scene of Makoto Yuki standing in front of the school, Evoker in hand.

 _Doushiyou karappo no furi mo dekinai HAROO doumo boko wa koko_

The scene shifts to show a close up of Makoto as he lifts up his Evoker, and places it against his head, slowly pulling the trigger. A burst of broken glass shards comes, as the final scene shows Makoto facing the screen, Orpheus behind him. Standing on both his sides are Yu and Akira, Izanagi and Arsene behind their respective users.

* * *

HOLY MOLY THAT WAS LONG. Sorry for taking so much time with this one guys. I know that a lot of it is just exposition, so it's probably not too fun to read.

Now, as you've noticed, I've included an opening theme. The story is going to be divided into four parts, each corresponding to the time periods covered by the films. The first OP, as you've probably noticed, was Hello World! by Bump of Chicken, which was the OP to _Blood Blockade Battlefront_. The OP description was typed up by none other than TDN himself. Let's all give him a round of applause, shall we?

Okay, real talk, this was a major pain to write. Having to do exposition for things that we already know about is gruelling, and having Akira be the only one talking about it was mainly to streamline it and keep the chapter shorter than it could've been. But I'm happy to say that I'll finally be able to kick things into motion with the next chapter. I hope you're ready to meet an old friend again.

Now, this fic is rapidly spiraling into a much bigger work than I could have ever imagined, and there will be a lot of new additions to the story that will keep things interesting. I gotta say though, it's kind of hard coming up with designs for stuff that'll end up being conveyed in a non-visual medium. It almost makes me wish that I wasn't such a bad artist. But what's done is done, and I'll get by somehow.

In the meantime, Omake.

* * *

 **OMAKE** : Vehicular Madness

"Alright Nijima," Kirijo said, "You're up next. Show us what you can do."

Having been selected to go fourth, Makoto Nijima was confident. With Akira, Yu, Goro, and Adachi making it look so effortless, she was totally convinced that she could do this. This was easy. She walked over to an open area of the room, and pulled the trigger.

"Johanna!" she yelled, manifesting her bike-shaped Persona in all its glory.

SEES was once more left speechless. A recurring theme throughout that night.

"Dude…" Yosuke said, "That is so not fair…"

The rest of the Investigation Team sort of agreed, considering that most of them had to blow so much of their own money on their motorcycles.

"W-wow…" Sanada said, "That's one… unique Persona…"

"Indeed…" Mitsuru said.

After Johanna had disappeared, Makoto sat back down.

"O-okay then," Takeba said, "You're up next Sakura."

All of a sudden the Thieves began to regret letting Sakura take the Evoker.

"Uh…" Futaba said, looking for an excuse, "Can I get some air first?"

SEES was, yet again, slightly befuddled. The Thieves however, were all breathing silent sighs of relief.

"Uh, yes," Ikutsuki said, "Go right ahead."

"THANK YOU!" Futaba yelled, now running to the door.

The rest of the group followed her to make sure that she was okay, and found her on the sidewalk, breathing deeply.

"It's okay… It's okay…" she whispered, "Alright… let's do this."

Futaba raised the Evoker to her head, and after a couple seconds, pulled the trigger.

"Necronomicon!"

All of a sudden, a giant UFO manifested above Futaba, and grabbed her with tentacles coming from what looked to be its entrance. The tentacles pulled her into the UFO, and she disappeared from sight.

If Makoto Nijima's Persona had been a surprise to SEES, Futaba's added a whole new layer and a load of frosting.

"Hey guys!" Futaba's voice said from out of nowhere, "I can sense all sorts of stuff in here. Weird, huh?"

More silence. This time for a good two minutes.

"Well," Akihiko said, "Good thing she went outside, right?"

"Yep," Akira said, sweating bullets, "Good thing…"

"Well," Ikutsuki said, "I suppose we should get our 'motors,' running, because we should study this 'alien,' Persona!"

At this point, Akira was considering that putting up with Ikutsuki might be more trouble than it was worth in the long run.


	6. Chapter 6: The More Things Change

Hello again my good people. It's been far too long, even though I'm writing this foreword only a couple hours after I published Chapter 5. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I really hate keeping you guys waiting. It's kind of hard having so many ideas for a story of this nature but only having so much space at a time to convey them. But whatevs. We'll get to that point eventually.

First and foremost, I want to start off with a recommendation. UknownHero has been writing his own time-travel Persona fanfiction called, "Time to Make History," where the _P3_ gang gets thrown forward in time to Inaba. While it's just starting out, it deserves a lot of love, and I adore the unique spin that UKH put on it. Interestingly enough, there are quite a few similar elements between our two stories (besides of course the entire basic premise) that I swear are coincidences, but are actually quite funny when I look back at them in hindsight. Either way, check it out. It looks set to impress.

* * *

April 6, 2009

Iwatodai Dormitory

55 Minutes into the Dark Hour

The boy wasn't fazed when he got off the train and the world turned green. This wasn't anything new. He had experienced it before. He was even less surprised to see the streets filled with coffins where people should have been. He wasn't taken aback by the puddles of blood that decorated the streets. And he certainly wasn't surprised in the least by the lack of electricity. He had walked all the way to the dorm which would function as his new home without acknowledging any of these things. The only thing that surprised him was what happened after he stepped through the door.

The green glow suddenly disappeared, even though it should have only been 55 minutes into this strange phenomena. Putting down his bag and taking off his headphones, the boy noticed a young child to his left.

"You're late," said the child, "I've been waiting for a long time." He held out a piece of paper. "If you want to proceed, then please sign here. It's a contract. There's no need to be scared. It only binds you to accepting full responsibility for your actions."

There was something written on the paper. "I chooseth this fate of my own free will," and below it, a line to sign a name. Deciding that it probably wasn't legally binding, the boy signed his name.

"...Very well," the child said, taking the contract, "No one can escape time. It delivers us all to the same end. You can't plug your ears and cover your eyes," he somehow made the contract disappear, "And so it begins…"

The child reached out with his arm and vanished into the darkness. As if he was just a hallucination. And then, the green glow returned.

"Hey, who are you?!" a voice suddenly called.

Turning his head, the boy found a girl who looked to be about his own age nearby. She was dressed in a pink cardigan, which she looked to be wearing over a school uniform. She was clearly on-edge, surprised that the boy was here. To be honest, the boy was surprised as well. He had never seen anyone else outside of their coffins during this phenomena before. Unfortunately, this girl looked to be hostile. She was breathing quickly, and reaching for what looked like a gun holstered to her leg. Suddenly, she grabbed it and-

"Takeba, wait!" a voice called out.

Suddenly, another girl appeared on the stairs. She was a tall girl with long dark red hair, and an imposing gaze. She walked down and faced the boy.

"I wasn't aware that you would be arriving so late," she said, "It seems that this is a recurring trend with this dorm…"

The boy didn't know what she was talking about, but the red-haired girl quickly continued.

"I'm Mitsuru Kirijo, one of the students living in the dorm," she said.

"Who's he?" the brown-haired girl said, looking at the boy.

"He's a transfer student," Mitsuru said, "It was a last minute decision to assign him here. He'll eventually be transferred to a regular dorm."

"Are you sure about letting him stay here?" the brown-haired girl asked.

"We'll see…" Mitsuru said, "By the way, this girl is Yukari Takeba. She'll be a junior this year, like you."

"Hi… I'm Yukari," the brown-haired girl muttered.

"Kirijo-san?" a voice came from the stairs once more, "What's going on?"

Turning to the stairs again, the boy found that the voice belonged to a silver-haired boy who still hadn't gotten out of his uniform. Why were all of these people dressed so well so late into the night?

"Oh, Narukami," Mitsuru said, "We were just welcoming our newest arrival." She turned to the boy. "Go on, introduce yourself."

The boy spoke.

"I'm Makoto Yuki."

* * *

[Cue OP]

* * *

 **Chapter VI:** **The More Things Change...**

The silver-haired boy, Narukami, stood silently for a minute. An action which was quite confusing to Makoto. Takeba herself was also surprised.

"Uh, are you two okay?" Makoto asked, concerned about them.

"Oh, don't mind them," Mitsuru said, "They're probably just surprised that we have two Makoto Yukis in this dorm now."

"Excuse me?" Makoto exclaimed.

"You see…" Takeba muttered, "There's a girl with the same name as you who moved in here a couple days ago."

So that was it. He wanted to talk to this girl now. But there were more important things to address right now.

"Putting that aside," Makoto continued, "Why do you have a gun?"

"Uh…" Yukari said, stumbling over her words, "I guess it's like a hobby…? Well, not really I guess… but..."

"You know how it is these days," Mitsuru interrupted, "It's for self-defense. Of course, it's not actually real."

"Excuse me," Narukami said, "But it's getting pretty late. I think I'll show Yuki-san to his dorm room."

"His things should already be there, so that should be fine" Mitsuru said, "We'll be going up ourselves now."

"Okay," Yu said "See you in the morning."

After getting the key to Makoto's room, the group of late sleepers walked up the stairs, going up to their dorm rooms. Makoto and Narukami got off on the second floor while the girls continued upwards, and Narukami directed Makoto to the room at the end of the hall on the right.

"This is your room," Narukami said, "Pretty easy to remember, what with it being at the end of the hall. You good from here on out?"

Makoto only had one question.

"What about that boy?" he asked.

"Huh?" Narukami said, clearly not understanding the question, "What are you talking about?"

It appeared that Gekkoukan High wasn't lodging an elementary schooler with high schoolers. Though, thinking about it a bit longer, Makoto realized that such a thing was ridiculous, and would probably never be allowed.

Yu paused for a moment, "By the way, did something happen when you came in?" he continued, "I heard quite a bit of noise down there earlier." He seemed a bit on-edge.

"What do you mean by that?" Makoto asked.

"Nothing…" Narukami said, clearly tired, "Just making sure… By the way, my name's Yu Narukami. Nice to meet you." He extended his hand for a shake. Makoto accepted it, and Narukami gave a firm, yet comfortable shake.

"Good to meet you too…" Makoto mumbled.

"Well," Narukami said, "We'll have plenty of time to talk tomorrow, so get some rest."

Narukami turned around and began walking in the other direction.

"'Night," he said, "See you in the morning."

Narukami walked over to one of the doors, pulled a key out of his pocket, opened it, and walked in. Makoto followed suit, and took in his new room. It was a bit small, with a lot of space being taken up by the bed and desk, but it was still big enough to suit his tastes. With nothing much else to do this late at night, Makoto decided to catch up on his sleep.

* * *

April 7, 2009

7:55 AM

Iwatodai Dormitory: Makoto Yuki's Room

Makoto Yuki was brought to consciousness by a loud commotion going on outside his room. It seemed like several people were moving.

"Dammit Ryuji!" someone yelled, "Get your ass in gear! I'm not going to be late on our first day!"

"Yosuke! You put your pants on backwards!"

"Ted, for the love of God, brush your hair!"

The people outside seemed to be in a hurry. Makoto on the other hand was keen on taking things slow. In an orderly fashion, he got dressed in his uniform, deciding to leave it unbuttoned, and grabbed his bag before exiting the room, where he was greeted with the sight of about ten people either waiting, yelling, or knocking on doors. A blonde haired boy was trying to lock his door, a caucasian boy was busy trying to get his hair looking presentable, at least three girls were knocking on doors to wake up their owners, and the rest were just waiting irately for the others to finish. Knowing that trying to get them focused would make him late, he simply walked past them all, went down the stairs, and exited the dorms. Just outside stood Mitsuru, Yukari, Narukami, a boy with glasses and black hair, and a girl with brownish-red hair. None of them had noticed Makoto yet.

"So," said the boy with glasses, "Do you think they'll all calm down soon enough to get going in time?"

"Probably," Narukami said, "But they'll be cutting it pretty close."

"It's their own fault if they're late," Yukari said, "They probably should've woken up earlier."

"I don't think Adachi-san's even up yet," said the red-haired girl.

"I hope he's not expecting a raise anytime soon," Mitsuru said.

Just then, they realized that someone was standing behind them. They turned around to look at Makoto.

"Yuki-san," Narukami said, "Good to see you."

"Uh, over here?" the red-haired girl said.

"I think he was talking to that guy," the boy with glasses said, pointing at Makoto.

"Oh…" the girl said, a bit flustered, "Well this is going to be strange…" she turned to face Makoto. "My name's also Makoto Yuki. Sorry about the confusion."

"No problem," Makoto said.

"You think that's complicated?" the glasses boy said, "We've got another Makoto living here as well. Can't believe that even she's getting hung up in there…"

"At the very least, her last name isn't Yuki," the female Makoto Yuki said, "You know, if it makes it any easier, you guys can just call me 'Mako,' from now on. It's what my friends always called me back in the day."

"You sure?" Narukami said, "We haven't really known you for that long yet."

"Hey, if it makes things less confusing, I'm fine with it," 'Mako,' said.

"It would certainly make things easier," Yukari said, "Anyway, we've wasted enough time. We should get to the station."

"Indeed," Mitsuru said, "Let's go."

Makoto walked down the steps and joined the group as they walked to the train station. The walk was quite short and silent, and getting through the station thankfully wasn't very difficult. Though, he couldn't help but notice on the trip that Mako looked incredibly nervous near him. Was she crushing on him? After they had just met? Makoto didn't doubt that such things could happen, but it seemed pretty unlikely. He decided to put it out of his mind once he had gotten to the platform and began waiting for the train, which ended up arriving quite quickly. However, just as the group was getting on the train…

"Waitwaitwaitwaitwaaaaaaaaaaaittt!"

Out of nowhere, the hurrying students from this morning, alongside several others, came rushing onto the platform, and began to pile into the train. Makoto and Yukari ended up pressed near the window as the spots filled up, and the train doors closed.

" _Next stop: Port Island Station,_ " the automated voice said as the train began moving.

"Oh man…" the blonde-haired kid from the dorm said, "Didn't even have time for breakfast…"

"Well that's what you get," said a platinum-blonde girl with twintails, "Should've actually tried waking yourself up for once."

"Shut it!" said the blonde boy, "You were behind too!"

"Only because I was trying to get you up!" retorted the girl.

"Don't worry," Yukari said, "I've only known them for a short time, but they're always like this."

"Are they?" Makoto said, rhetorically.

"Yeah," Yukari replied, "You'll get used to it. By the way, what do you think of the monorail? Bet your last commute wasn't like that, huh? This is my favorite part… when it feels like you're gliding over the sea." Yukari stopped for a moment to look out the window and take in the view. "Our stop is Port Island Station at the end of the line. From there, we walk to our school. Oh, look, you can see it now!"

Makoto turned to face the window, and got a got a look at the school. It was definitely a big place, larger than any school he'd ever been to. He was almost nervous about having to navigate it. He was also surprised at just how fast the monorail was moving. At this rate, they'd be at the school well before the first bell at 8:30.

As the train pulled into Port Island Station and the passengers piled out, Makoto found himself surrounded by his dorm mates, who were now walking at more relaxed paces. Not quite comfortable around them yet, he avoided talking to any of them as he walked to the school. Within ten minutes, he was there, standing in front of the gates with the school's full splendor right in front of him.

"Welcome to Gekkoukan High School," Yukari said, "Hope you like it!"

After walking in and dropping his shoes off in his locker, Makoto was instructed to make his way to the faculty office. There, he went over the usual routine of having a teacher react to his life story and getting his class assignment, which, as it turned out, was class 2-F. He then ended up sitting through a rather boring speech from the school's Principal and being asked pointless questions by an annoying boy sitting behind him. He never thought he'd be so happy to go to class in his entire life.

When the assembly was finally over and it came time to go to class, Makoto sat down at a desk in the middle of the class without giving it much thought. As the first day's classes went on, he noticed that many of his dorm mates were in the class as well. Narukami, the glasses boy, Yukari, Mako, the blonde guy, and the twintail girl were all there, as was a boy with red headphones, a brown-haired girl with a bob cut, a black-haired girl with a red hairband, a blue-haired boy who looked awfully similar to himself, and a silver-haired girl who he had seen in the mob earlier. Coincidence was probably too subtle a word for this.

After classes had ended, Makoto was planning to just walk around Tatsumi Port Island for a bit, but before he got up to do so, he was interrupted.

"S'up dude?" a voice called, "How's it goin'?"

Looking behind him, Makoto saw a boy with a baseball cap and stubble walking up behind him. He looked a bit older than he probably was, and was wearing his uniform very loosely. The boy walked up beside him.

"Who are you?" Makoto asked.

"Me?" the boy in the cap said, leaning in close, "I'm Junpei Iori, nice to meet ya!"

"Personal space," Makoto said, leaning back.

"I transferred here in 8th Grade," Junpei said, moving back a bit, "I know how tough it is being the new kid, so I wanted to say 'hey!' See what a nice guy I am?" He leaned in close again.

"Personal space," Makoto repeated, louder this time.

Just then, Yukari walked up with the boy in glasses, grabbing Junpei's attention.

"Hey, it's Yuka-tan!" he said, "Didn't think we'd be in the same class again!"

"There you go again…" Yukari sighed, "Talking to anyone who'll listen… Did you ever think that you were maybe bothering him?"

"Nothing wrong with being friendly," Junpei said, sheepishly, "Anyway, what's with Mr. Pretty Boy right here? He ask you out while I wasn't looking?" he pointed to the boy in glasses.

"No," the boy responded, "I'm just staying in the same dorm."

"What?" Junpei said, "You're kidding me!"

"No, actually," Yukari said, "A lot of people in this class are actually in the dorm. It's pretty crazy, huh Yuki-san?"

"It's almost too perfect to be a coincidence," said Makoto.

"By the way," the glasses boy said, "I don't think I introduced myself this morning." He reached out with his hand and smiled. "I'm Akira Kurusu. Nice to meet you."

Makoto, a bit surprised at how forward Kurusu was with him, reached out and shook it. "I'm-"

"Makoto Yuki, I know," Kurusu finished, "I don't know if I could forget that name if I tried, what with there being two of you and all."

"Two of them?" Junpei asked, "What does that mean?"

"Ugh," Yukari groaned, "Weren't you paying attention? There's another girl with the same name in our class."

"Wait, really?" Junpei said, "Where is she?"

"Typical Junpei," Yukari groaned, "Is there any girl you wouldn't hit on?"

"Seriously," Junpei said, "Can a guy just not be nice and friendly nowadays?"

"I think she's worried about any ulterior motives you might have," Kurusu snarked.

"What ulterior motives?" Junpei said, offended, "I'm as pure as the driven snow!"

"Yeah," Kurusu said, "And I'm the biggest pop idol in the country."

"Huh?" Junpei said, clearly confused by Kurusu's odd statement.

"By the way…" Yukari whispered, ignoring the two boys having a snark-off, "You didn't say anything about… 'you know what,' last night, right?"

"Yeah," Makoto said, thinking she was talking about the fake gun.

"Huh?" Junpei said, listening in on the two, "L-last night…?"

The implications of her phrasing instantly dawned on Yukari.

"Wait a minute!" she yelled, "Don't get the wrong idea! I just met him yesterday! There's nothing between us!"

"Yeah," Kurusu quipped, "With that tone, he's all but guaranteed to buy it."

"You're not helping!" Yukari said, "Ugh, whatever. I've gotta do something for the archery team. Don't go spreading any rumors!"

Yukari stormed out of the room, considerably flustered at the awkward conversation she had just engaged in.

"Yeesh," Junpei said, "What's with her? Doesn't she know that no one takes rumors seriously anyway?"

"I wouldn't be so sure of that," Kurusu said, "Where I'm from, rumors were usually quite true."

"You know what I mean," Junpei said, "But hey, rumors or not, people **are** talking about you, Makoto!"

Makoto didn't remember giving Junpei permission to use his first name, but he didn't really care at this point.

"Believe it or not," Junpei continued, "Yuka-tan's pretty popular. You're lucky. I can tell this's gonna be a fun year!"

Makoto was a bit more skeptical.

* * *

April 7, 2009

11:30 PM

Iwatodai Dormitory Lobby

After their conversation, Makoto decided that it would probably be best to stick around Junpei while he toured the Island. Kurusu decided to tag along, if only because he had nothing better to do, but spent a lot of the time on his phone for some reason. Despite initially seeming a bit nosy, Junpei turned out to be a pretty okay guy, and they talked quite a bit on the way out.

After a day of exploration, Makoto decided to return to the dorms, where he found the lobby filled with occupants who were now looking at him.

"Hey," said another thuggish blonde kid with slicked-back hair, who was sitting on the couch, "You're the new arrival, right?"

"Yeah," Makoto said, "I'm Makoto Yuki. I hope I'm not bothering you."

The boy had a look of surprise on his face before he kept talking. Was it really that shocking to have two people with the same name in the dorm? One would think that news would have travelled faster.

"No worries," the other blonde guy said, regaining his bearings, "I'm Kanji Tatsumi. I'm a year below you, so I guess that makes you my Senpai."

"I'm Naoto Shirogane," said the dark-haired girl next to Tatsumi, "Nice to meet you."

"We moved in here with the others about four days ago," Tatsumi said, "The place is pretty crowded now, but it's also real homey."

"That's nice," Makoto said, "But I'll probably have to transfer to another dorm at this rate."

"It's not finalized yet," said a smiling brown-haired boy sitting in a chair, "You can probably switch to this place if you'd like."

"I don't know…" Makoto said, "It would probably inconvenience the school…"

"Pay it no mind," the brown-haired boy said, "They'd be more than happy to let you stay here. You've already made friends with Yukari-san, haven't you?"

"'Yukari-san?'" Makoto said, "Are you familiar with her?"

"No," said the blue-haired boy from earlier, also sitting in a chair, "He just can't call people by their last names for whatever reason."

"Oh, of course I can," the brown-haired boy said, "I just choose not to when it suits me."

"Please ignore him," the blue-haired boy responded, "It will serve you quite well during your time here. By the way, my name is Yusuke Kitagawa."

"I'm Goro Akechi," the brown-haired boy followed up.

"Nice to meet you," Makoto said, "But I can't really talk anymore, I want to get an early start tomorrow."

"Suit yourself," Kitagawa said. "We'll see you in the morning."

Makoto was a bit perplexed. "Aren't you guys gonna get any sleep?" he said, "It's getting close to midnight.

"We're used to staying up late," Shirogane said, "And we'd prefer to make the most of our time here."

"If you say so…" Makoto conceded, turning and walking to the stairs, "Good night, I guess."

With little else to do, Makoto retired to his room and fell asleep in record time.

* * *

A few minutes after Makoto had gone up, a group of eight descended from the stairs, led by Mitsuru Kirijo and Akihiko. The group consisted of Kurusu, Narukami, Mako, Futaba, Makoto (Nijima), and Adachi.

"Shirogane, Akechi," he said, "We're heading out for practice. You coming?"

"Mm hm," Goro said with a nod before getting out of his chair, "I'm ready to go."

"As am I," Naoto said, standing up.

"Alright then," Akihiko said, "Let's get a move on."

With Naoto and Akechi now in tow, the group walked out the front door.

"Later," Kanji said, "Don't get yourselves killed out there."

"We'll be fine, Kanji-kun," Naoto said assuredly.

The door closed, and Kanji and Yusuke were left alone.

"They've been making good progress, haven't they?" Yusuke said.

"Yeah," Kanji said, "Makes me wanna get in there myself."

"I must admit," Yusuke said, "I'm a bit irritated at the notion of Goro getting his chance before me."

"Well, life's unfair like that sometimes," Kanji said, "And he hasn't killed anyone yet."

"No he hasn't…" Yusuke said, "But he's definitely hiding something."

Kanji was silent. He agreed. It was plain to see that Goro Akechi was not the person he claimed to be. The only question was what he was planning. A question they had no leads on.

"Regardless," Yusuke said, now standing up, "I think I'll get to bed now."

"I'll stay down here," Kanji said, "Maybe watch a little TV."

"What's on this late at night?" Yusuke asked.

"I don't know," Kanji said, going over to turn the television on, "But there has to be something."

"If you say so," Yusuke said, now walking to the stairs, "See you in the morning."

"You too," Kanji said, now walking back to a chair and looking at the TV.

He would later be found asleep in that chair the next morning.

* * *

April 8, 2009

3:15 PM

Gekkoukan High School: Class 2-F

The next day at school wasn't particularly memorable for Makoto Yuki. Ms. Toriumi, the homeroom teacher, had asked a strange question about Utsuo Kubota that only a total dumbass could have trouble with considering the rant she had given about him only a minute before. Of course, Junpei was having trouble with it, so Makoto decided to help him out. It did end up making him feel a bit more appealing to his classmates, so he thought that it was probably fine if he helpd Junpei out if he needed it. Junpei had bailed right after classes had ended, so today Makoto was thinking about just surveying the city on his own. He was about to leave when a peculiar conversation caught his ear.

"Geeze…" a loud voice said, "Should teachers really be going on pointless tirades in the middle of class?"

"You might want to keep quiet," said a softer voice, "If Ms. Toriumi catches wind of what you're saying, I doubt that you'll be in this class much longer."

Makoto turned around and saw that the loud voice belonged to the first blonde guy from the dorm and the soft voice belonged to the caucasian twintailed girl. The two were sitting at their desks conversing.

"Let me guess," the blonde guy said in a sarcastic tone, "'It wouldn't be the first time that your loud mouth got you in hot water?'"

"Well if you know what I'm going to say about it anyway, why are you still doing it?" the twintailed girl said.

"I-" the blonde guy was about to retort when he caught sight of Makoto. He got out of his chair and walked over.

"Yo!" he said, "You're the new guy in the dorm, right? Makoto Yuki?"

"Yes," Makoto said, "I am."

"Nice," the blonde guy responded, leaning in close, "I'm Ryuji Sakamoto! Great to meet you!"

"Ryuji," the girl said, "Back up a bit, you're bothering him."

"To be honest, I'm kind of used to this," Makoto said.

"See?" Ryuji said, leaning in even closer, "He's fine!"

"Personal space," Makoto said, "I only said I was used to it, not that I liked it."

"I told you," the twintailed girl said, walking over to the two, "Sorry, Ryuji's always been kind of high-energy. He's really not a bad guy."

So basically, Makoto thought, Junpei except blonde.

"Yeah, yeah," Ryuji said, finally backing up, "Look I'm sorry, okay? I mean I was just excited that we-" he stopped himself suddenly, and after a couple seconds, continued, "-that we got ourselves a new dormmate!"

"Ugh…" Anne said, "If you say so... " she turned to Makoto, "My name is Anne Takamaki by the way. I'm also staying at the dorm."

"I'm Makoto Yuki," Makoto said, "But I guess you already knew that."

"Yeah," Takamaki said, "I know it's intimidating being the new arrival, but the people at the dorm are all really nice."

Makoto felt like he had already been through this conversation.

"By the way," Ryuji said, "You wanna hear something interesting I heard from one of the guys at the dorm?"

"Huh?" Makoto said.

"I heard that there's this site called the Ask-the-Phantom-Thieves-Channel that's making the rounds," Ryuji said, "It looks like a site where people can anonymously air their grievances about crappy stuff happening to them, but I've heard that if your problem is serious enough, then a group of Thieves will steal the heart of whoever's giving you shit!"

Makoto didn't buy it for a second.

"Are you sure it isn't just a hoax?" he questioned.

"Actually," Anne said, "He's not making it up, a friend of mine at my old school actually got good help from them. She was the first one to post on the site, too!"

"See?" Ryuji said, "Anne knows it's for real!"

Things were getting strange. Takamaki had seemed like she was pretty level-headed compared to Sakamoto, but now she was getting in on the rumor too?

"Who did you hear this from?" Makoto asked.

"Akira," Sakamoto said, "But don't tell him we said that, he's kind of sensitive about it."

Great, now Kurusu was in on this? Though, judging from the way he said it, Makoto thought that Sakamoto had something to hide, considering that he had specifically asked him not to talk to Kurusu about it. That meant he was probably going to have to talk with Kurusu about this later to straighten things out.

"I'll consider looking into it," he said, "But I wouldn't say I'm convinced yet." He got up and grabbed his bag.

"Where're you going?" Sakamoto asked.

"I'm just gonna check out the area a bit more," Makoto said, now walking to the door, "I don't have much else to do right now."

"Alright then," Sakamoto said, a bit disappointed, "See you later I guess."

"Later," Makoto responded, going out the door.

* * *

5 Minutes into the Dark Hour

Iwatodai Dormitory: Observation Room

The rest of the day was pretty boring for Makoto. He had opted to survey the Iwatodai Strip Mall by himself, but hadn't yet found anything that piqued his interest. He had returned to the dorms early, only to be met with the school's chairman telling him that his transfer to the main dormitory would be delayed, and also telling him bad puns. He was hoping that he wasn't going to have to go through any more of those puns in the future, otherwise his stay at the dorm would be more trouble than it was worth. With that, he once again decided to sleep early. However, he was being watched this time.

On the fourth floor of the Iwatodai Dorms was the observation room, where SEES had situated themselves to observe Makoto, this time with Akira, Yu, Mako, Akechi, and Naoto. And their findings were most intriguing.

"It seems we were correct," Mitsuru said, "Makoto Yuki also has the potential."

"Wow…" Yukari said, "We're getting pretty lucky, huh…?"

"How rare did you say Persona users were, again?" Akira asked.

"The estimate isn't certain," Ikutsuki said, "But the Kirijo group's studies indicate that it's far rarer than our recent results would indicate."

"I guess it really can't be understated just how fortunate you were," Goro said.

"Not at all," Mitsuru said, "I don't even know if we can say it was luck so much as it was a miracle that brought you all here."

"Regardless," Naoto interrupted, "We now know that this Makoto Yuki has the potential. What do we do from here?"

"Well," Ikutsuki said, "We'll wait and see for now, monitor him for a few more days before we take action."

"That sounds like a good idea," Yu said.

"Thank you," Ikutsuki said, "By the way, Mitsuru," he transitioned, turning to the student council president, "How have our new recruits been doing in the field?"

"Their performance has been _tres bien_ ," Mitsuru said, "They've all proven to be quite astute and capable in combat. Many of them have shown potential to be leaders of their own units."

"Oh," Ikutsuki said, "Now that I think about it, with 23 active members, it would be prudent to divide into smaller units."

Yukari sulked a bit, once again aware of her own inability to summon her Persona.

"The only question is who to choose," Mitsuru said, "Narukami, Kurusu, Akechi, Shirogane, Nijima, and Yuki, that is, the female one, have all proven to be the most worthy of the positions so far, but we'll have to look at their skills a bit more before we sort out who will be the leaders. We don't want too many small groups to function properly."

"Please," Goro said, "You're making me blush."

"If I were you," Akira said, "I wouldn't trust Goro here as far as I could throw him. He's smart, yeah, but you're much better off with someone less conniving."

"What's wrong with Akechi-kun?" Mako said earnestly, "He seems plenty trustworthy."

"We'll tell you later," Naoto said,

"Ugh…" Akira groaned, clearly discomforted.

"Are you okay, Akira-kun?" Goro said, concerned.

"I'm fine," Akira said, visibly annoyed, "Just a little… worn out from yesterday…"

There was an audible silence from Naoto. Normally the simple act of summoning their Persona wouldn't be a problem for any of the veteran Persona users, but in their preliminary visits to Tartarus, where they had easily cleared the tenth floor, they had recently discovered an unfortunate downside to using their Evokers. To them, using the gun-shaped catalysts made them feel as if they were forcing their Personas out of their psyches, and while it was satisfying the first couple of times, they quickly realized the cons of this system. Akira had been unable to summon any other Personas aside from Arsene, and the others had mentioned that they were also unable to summon any of their evolved or alternate Personas for prolonged periods of time, and the Personas they had access to were nowhere near as powerful as they used to be. Anyone who had been able to fire off an attack with their evolved Persona had been left far more drained than they would have been under normal circumstances. This hadn't been a problem on their first few runs in Tartarus, but they were certain that it would complicate things later down the road.

"You know what?" Akira said, "I think I'll just get to bed."

"I don't think that there's much else to see here," Naoto said, "So we should all do the same."

"Yeah," Yu said, getting up with the others, "Good night."

And thus, Mitsuru switched off the monitor, and the group made for their rooms.

* * *

April 8, 2009

?

?

Makoto Yuki was sitting. Which was pretty strange considering that he remembered being asleep in his bed, lying down. He was sitting in a room that was covered almost entirely in blue, in what appeared to be a large elevator. There was an old man with a long nose and a suit sitting behind a table in front of Makoto. And by his side was a girl in a blue dress and cap who looked awfully familiar. Suddenly, the long-nosed man spoke.

"Welcome to the Velvet Room, my dear young man," he said, "My name is Igor. I am delighted to make your acquaintance." He gestured to the girl by his side, "This is Elizabeth. She's a resident here, like myself."

"Pleased to meet you," Elizabeth said.

"This place exists between dream and reality, mind and matter," Igor continued, "It's been years since we've had a guest." He waved his hand, and suddenly, the contract that Makoto had signed on his first night at the dorm was on the table.

"Only those who have signed the contract can enter this place," Igor said, "Henceforth, you shall be welcome here in the Velvet Room. You are destined to hone your unique ability, and you will require my help to do so. I only ask one thing in return: That you abide by the contract, and assume responsibility for the choices you make. Hold onto this..."

Igor made a strange gesture, and suddenly, a key appeared in front of Makoto. Seeing no harm, he decided to take it.

"Heh heh…" Igor chuckled, "This will be an interesting journey… So many new faces to take part… I wonder, what does fate have in store for you this time?"

Just before Makoto was able to ask Igor what he meant by "this time," he suddenly began to lose consciousness.

"'Til we meet again…" Igor whispered as Makoto closed his eyes.

* * *

April 9, 2009

5 Minutes into the Dark Hour

Iwatodai Dormitory: Observation Room

April 9 had been yet another boring day for Makoto Yuki. First thing in the morning, he had been required to sit through an incredibly banal lecture from Mr. Ekoda, a classical literature teacher who had very little patience for those slacking off. Despite wanting to close his eyes and rest, Makoto had decided it would be more worthwhile to stay awake, figuring that keeping up to date with his academics was worth it. He spent the rest of the day surveying Port Island Station with Junpei, but once again failed to find anything that piqued his interest more than just a little. Returning to the dorms once again, he had decided to tune into a reality show called "Trish's Who's Who," where the guest was a 20-something year-old camerawoman. Makoto didn't know why, but he had a sneaking suspicion that he would run into her someday. But he got bored of the TV pretty quickly, and once again made for bed, not even bothering to take off his uniform. However, he was once again being observed.

In the observation room, the same party from yesterday were resuming their observation of the sleeping Makoto Yuki. Tonight, Futaba, Akihiko, Makoto (Nijima), and Adachi were all on patrol after Futaba had sensed an unusually large shadow nearby. Since their group was decently large, the Persona Users agreed that the mission was probably very low-risk, and the rest remained in the dorms.

"How is he?" Ikutsuki said.

"Well…" Mitsuru said, "Much like our other candidates, very much the same. No memory loss, no disorientation, none of the usual symptoms."

"I almost feel kind of bad, treating him like a guinea pig…" Yukari muttered.

"Well," Goro said, "The more members we have, the better."

"I know but…" Yukari started.

"Don't worry about it," Akira said, "If we explain it to him reasonably, he probably won't mind."

"I hope so," Yukari said.

All of a sudden, a voice was broadcast into everyone's minds. The voice of Futaba Sakura.

"Guys!" Futaba said, "We've got big trouble!"

"Sakura?" Naoto said, "What happened? Did you defeat the shadow?"

"No," she said, "It got the jump on us and we had to retreat. Now it's following us back here! And it has help!"

"What?!" Yu said, "We'll provide assistance! Hold tight!"

"We're trying!" Futaba said, "Hurry!"

Futaba's voice stopped, and the Persona users in the room jumped to their feet.

"Narukami, Shirogane!" Mitsuru commanded, "Go downstairs and meet the attack team!" she turned to Goro, Akira, and Yukari, "Akechi, Kurusu, and Takeba! Wake up the other Persona users and prepare them for battle!" she turned to Mako, "Yuki, you're with me. We'll hold off the Shadows coming from the front!" and finally, she turned to Ikutsuki, "Ikutsuki, get to the back rooms immediately!"

With the plan in mind, SEES sprung into action.

* * *

Makoto Yuki's Room

Makoto Yuki was interrupted in his sleep by a frantic knocking at his door. Opening his eyes, he found himself once again in the strange phenomena that occurred every midnight. Both curious and desperate to get back to sleep, he decided to open his door to see what the fuss was about. What he saw surprised him greatly. It was Yukari, carrying a bow and a quiver, as well as a sword, breathing very quickly.

"No time to explain!" she said, "We just have to go!"

She handed the sword to Makoto, who took it, not knowing what else to do. Stepping out of his door, he saw Kurusu, who was carrying a large knife, and Akechi, who was carrying the hilt of a sword, frantically knocking on doors and waking people up. He could only just barely make out what they were saying.

"Shadows are attacking, get a weapon!"

All of a sudden, the dormitory seemed like a military bunker, with students getting dressed and rushing of their rooms to, presumably, fight whatever "Shadows," that these people were mentioning. This didn't make any sense. What was going on? Kurusu then turned to face Makoto and Yukari.

"Come on!" he yelled, "We have to act quickly!"

Suddenly, behind him, Makoto heard a strange dripping noise. Turning around, he found a strange black, blob-like creature coming in through his window. The next thing he knew, Yukari had grabbed his hand, and he was running.

* * *

Outside the Iwatodai Dormitory

One minute after the beginning of the attack

"Frei!" Makoto (Nijima) yelled, firing a blast of nuclear energy at the large Shadow, composed entirely of disjointed arms, swords, and mask, which reeled in response. Makoto used this opportunity to put some distance between her and the shadow using Johanna, who she was currently riding. Unfortunately, the Shadow quickly regained its bearings, and continued chasing her. It was quick, easily able to keep pace with Johanna, which was saying quite a lot. But Makoto's job wasn't to defeat it, she simply had to keep it away from the dorms for now, so as to prevent it from damaging them too greatly. As such, she sped down a road leading away from the dorms, and the Shadow followed. This whole situation was bad. Fighting the Shadow itself should have been easy enough, but what they hadn't accounted for, however, was just how large the horde that followed it would be. A large group of Mayas were now climbing the walls of the dorms, seeping in through cracks in the windows, and probably attacking the occupants. Normally, this would have been handled with relative ease, but due to the side effects of using the Evoker, it was now a considerable challenge, especially considering just how many of them didn't have Evokers.

"Alright guys," Makoto said, taking a sharp left and driving in the direction of Naganaki Shrine, "I've directed it away from the dorms! Fall in on the agreed positions!"

"Roger that!" responded Akihiko, "We're closing in with backup!"

The shrine was now straight ahead of Makoto, who was now pulling out a revolver from within her uniform. She didn't want to use it, but needed to slow down the Shadow a bit more. She looked ahead, and saw that she had about five seconds until she reached the Shrine. She then immediately looked back and aimed the gun at the Shadow, and proceeded to empty all six chambers. All six shots hit the Shadow, making it stagger for a bit, but not slowing it down by a significant amount. Suddenly, Akhiko's voice returned.

"Nijima!" he said, "We're all in position! Begin luring it back!"

With the order given, Makoto skidded Johanna to a halt and turned around right in front of the shrine, returning her revolver to its hiding place in her uniform. The Shadow was now straight ahead of her. Revving up Johanna's engine, Makoto waited for a moment before charging forward and slamming into it with a Herculean Strike. Putting as much gas on Johanna as necessary, Makoto ended up driving straight over the Shadow, before continuing back towards the dorms. However, it didn't take long for the the Shadow to resume its pursuit. She was sweating bullets, trying desperately to stay calm as she tried to lead the Shadow to the assigned area. Hearing a familiar noise, she shifted Johanna to the left before one a sword thrown by the Shadow imbedded itself in the ground. It was times like this that Makoto really wished that Johanna had mirrors. Undeterred, she continued on her straight-shot path to the sharp corner. She drifted around said corner flawlessly, and the Shadow skidded to a halt before dashing ahead to follow her.

What it hadn't expected was Polydeuces slamming its arm into its face. The Shadow flew back, its mask cracking from the impact, before crashing into a building behind it. On Johanna, Akihiko, who had originally been positioned just around the corner, smirked at the perfectly executed maneuver. He had summoned Polydeuces, jumped on Johanna, and ordered his Persona to Sonic Punch the Shadow in an instant. The Shadow was still alive, but they had bought themselves even more time. As they continued to the dorm's entrance, Necronomicon was hovering above them, taking note of their positions.

"I estimate that you just bought us fifteen seconds," Futaba said, "Let's make them count."

"Right," Akihiko said, "Shirogane, are you in position?"

"Yes," Naoto's voice said, "As are Yu-senpai and Adachi-san!"

"Perfect," Makoto said, "Let's take this thing down!"

Within seconds, Johanna had once again arrived at the dorm's entrance, where Yu, Naoto, and Adachi were waiting on the steps. Mitsuru and Mako were occupied fighting Mayas with Penthesilea and Orpheus, along with Yusuke, Teddie, Haru, Kanji, and Yukiko, who were relegated to using their weapons in place of their Personas. However, the sheer number of them was making a difference.

"Positions!" Yu shouted, as Makoto skidded to a halt on the sidewalk.

With nods of affirmation, the rest of the group prepared for their plan. Makoto had only been instructed to lure the Shadow away from the dorm and back, and to pick up Akihiko, so she hoped that the others had come up with a decent idea.

Yu brought out his Evoker and summoned Izanagi, Naoto had her own Evoker on her head, and Adachi was standing by.

"Ten seconds!" Futaba said as the group heard the shadow approaching through the alley from which Makoto had just come.

"Nine!" Naoto tensed.

"Eight!" Izanagi got into a crouching position.

"Seven!" Naoto held onto her Evoker.

"Six!" Naoto jumped.

"Five!" Izanagi placed itself under Naoto's position.

"Four!" Naoto buckled her knees as her feet landed on the broad side of Izanagi's spear.

"Three!" Izanagi forced its spear forwards, springboarding Naoto through the air towards the alley before it disappeared.

"Two!" Naoto summoned Sukuna-Hikona as she flew through the air.

"One!" As the shadow came into view and Naoto flew right in front of it, she dropped a shining ball of light into the alley's opening.

"Zero!" As Naoto flew over the Shadow and landed on the ground, the ball of light touched the ground on which the Shadow was standing, creating a reticle-shaped field of light. And in an instant, the Shadow was caught in an explosion of dark energy as Naoto stuck her landing.

"Hair-Trigger Megido," Naoto said. It was a trick that she had improvised during the P-1 Grand Prix that condensed the energy of a Megido into a small field which released the energy upon contact with a foreign entity. And it had worked perfectly in tripping up the already wounded Shadow, who had lost control of its movement and skidded to a halt right in front of the sidewalk.

"Let's finish it!" Yu yelled, raising his Evoker once more.

"Agreed," Adachi said, doing the same.

With another burst, the two sent their respective Izanagis charging towards the Shadow, spears at the ready. Swinging their weapons heavily, the Personas sliced at the Shadow, who frantically blocked the strikes with several of its arms. However, from behind, Naoto had once again summoned Sukuna-Hikona, and then jumped towards the Shadow.

"Tempest Slash!" Naoto called out, sending Sukuna-Hikona flying at the Shadow's back. Once it had gotten in close, it began slicing at the arms it was blocking the two Izanagis with.

"One more time!" Yu cried as Izanagi once again raised its spear.

" **Enough of this shit!** " Adachi yelled as Magatsu Izanagi did the same, before bringing it down in sync with its counterpart.

With a single motion each, the Personas sliced into pieces. The Shadow dropped its swords and writhed in pain for a full twenty seconds, giving off an inhuman screaming noise as it struggled to hold on. But after those seconds had passed, the Shadow went still, and disappeared.

"We did it…" Akihiko said, exhilarated, as Naoto returned to the group. Around him, he noticed that the number of Shadows outside the dorm were gradually thinning, to the point where Mitsuru was comfortable walking over to talk with him.

"Good work team," she said "You did splendidly eliminating the large Shadow. Now we should take care of the remaining enemies inside the dorm-"

Suddenly a voice called out, "Vulcanus!" and a shattering noise was heard. A bright light then began to approach the group from the alley.

"Out of the way!" Yu yelled.

Instantly, the group leaped out of the way as a blast of fire went soaring over their heads, straight into the dorm's front door, incinerating it instantly. Realizing that they still weren't safe, the attack team began retreating behind the dorm's walls, seeking shelter.

"Everyone without an Evoker to the back of the lobby!" Yu commanded as he ran behind the corner of the doorless opening. The rest of the Persona users followed him, placing themselves near the windows as the non-summoners retreated.

Taking a moment to breathe after getting inside, Yu noticed Yukari, Akira, and Goro in the back of the room as well, with the rest of the residents following them. The Shadows had pushed them back from the second floor, and Ryuji, Anne, and Sho were at the back of the pack, trying to hold them off on the stairwell.

Curious to see if their attacker was visible, Yu, who was placed right next to the opening where the door once was, looked outside, and managed to get a look at the attacker, who still had his Persona summoned. It was a man in a long black coat, in a white mask designed like a lion. His Persona had a head that reminded Yu of a rook chess piece, an orange torso with a black stripe going down the middle, white arms and legs with holes that exposed the Persona's grey interior, and tubes on its shoulders and thighs connected to pipes that were spewing fire.

"Heh heh heh…" the man chuckled, "As expected. All you vermin can do is cower in the face of your destructor."

What the hell was this guy talking about? What was he here for?

"Now," he said, "Surrender immediately, and I shall make your deaths as painless as possible."

So he was definitely hostile, and there was no negotiating with him. Regardless, Yu wasn't too nervous. With enough preparation, he could get the team to take out one Persona user no problem. And then, he heard marching coming from behind the man with the lion mask. Gradually, a small army of hooded individuals in red and yellow, about seventy, came out of the alley, poised to attack. Leading them was yet another man in a mask, this time with a large smile on its face and a Taurus symbol on its forehead.

"Ahahahaha..." the second masked man cackled, "We will soon return to the Exalted One victorious."

"Silence, Prince Taurus," the lion masked man said, "They may get the drop on you just yet."

"It matters not, King Leo," Prince Taurus said, gesturing towards the dorm, "Go forth! And smite them in the name of Joker!"

The hooded army charged towards the dorm, weapons in hand.

* * *

Okay guys, cards on the table, this chapter was originally going to be longer than it was. It was going to include the battle with the two masked figures, who you may or may not recognize, and a lot more. I hope you can bear with my lazy ass just a bit more.

While I had initially watched the first _Persona 3_ movie to get an impression of what Makoto Yuki was like, I decided against my better sense of judgement that I wouldn't go for that. I wasn't very fond of the movie's interpretation of the character, and instead opted for a sort of fusion between that and the sort of Makoto you would experience from playing the game. He's sort of a composite character in that regard, but what can you do? As for the movie in general, I wasn't very fond of it. I already wasn't a fan of how loosely _P3_ 's story was structured, one of the reasons I think its sequel is better in that regard, but the movie exacerbates it quite a bit. The pacing's all over the place, and dramatic tension falls and rises seemingly at random. The animation is incredibly underwhelming for a film production, and even the sound design is weird. I can't stand just how little impact the Evokers seem to have when they're fired. I don't know if this stuff gets better as time goes on, but _Spring of Birth_ did not leave a good taste in my mouth. It feels like _P3_ and _P4_ have different issues. One has generally good characters, and a badly paced story with a lot of good symbolism and themes, while the other also has generally good characters and a better paced story with a few hiccups here and there in addition to less symbolism. I think both are certainly worth your time, but I think it's best if we all acknowledge that they're both very flawed in certain aspects.

As I'm releasing this, I'm currently touching up Chapter 7, which is mostly complete, so expect to see that in a couple days. I've been very excited working my way up to this point, and what I have in store is pretty hype. See you soon.


	7. Chapter 7: The First Shots

HEY BOYS, it's your man Diego, back at it again with another chapter. Now, it's been a while, and I've been getting a little distracted by a bunch of minor bullcrap, so I'll do you a favor and truncate this intro right now. Enjoy.

* * *

Makoto Yuki thought he was going to die. It didn't look like there was any way out of this situation. While him, Yukari, and the eight other students upstairs had been able to fend off the monsters with just their weapons for a short time, it didn't take long for them to be ambushed from further upstairs. As such, they were forced to retreat to the first floor, where it seemed that the situation wasn't getting better. Any bit of hope that the party seemed to have after the death of the large monster was dashed immediately by the arrival of a strange masked army. And now they were being rushed by them ruthlessly on both sides.

With the charge command given, Yu and Mitsuru had placed themselves in front of the door, using their Evokers to bring out their Personas. Izanagi and Penthesilea swiped at the army with their weapons, and Yu and Mitsuru did the same with their own, but it seemed that these ground troops weren't just normal lackeys. Some of them in the back were casting magic, keeping many of the other Persona users ducking for cover. Their power made it far too risky to let them near the members unable to summon Personas. While some of them were incapacitated Yu and Mitsuru's attacks, about ten found their way past them and inside the dorm, where they began making their way to the students without Evokers, some of whom were still trying to hold off the Shadows coming down the stairs. Five troops went to the right, where Ryuji, Anne, and Sho were fighting the Shadows and five went to the left where the remainder of the students were positioned. Akira, Goro, and Yukari spread out, Akira covering the left, Goro and Yukari on the right.

"Shit!" Akihiko said, rushing to the left side of the back of the room with his Evoker raised, "Polydeuces! Zio!"

His Persona appeared and fired a bolt at lightning at the troops on the left, hitting one.

"Robin Hood!" cried Goro, summoning the archer, who fired a powerful shot at a troop, before drawing his hilt and turning on what looked to be a laser sword, and cutting down another.

"Arsene!" Akira cried, "Eiha!" prompting the red Persona to fire a blast of dark energy at another foot soldier on the left side.

Despite their efforts however, there were still three soldiers on each side that slipped by, ready to attack the relatively defenseless students, and there were still more trying to get in. On the left, one of them had reached their targets, and was raising his staff to attack Ryuji from behind. On the other side, all three were about to cast Maragi spells on the other students.

Suddenly, from behind Ryuji's attacker, Morgana jumped onto his head, tired of having to hide. He was clawing and biting the hooded man to the best of his ability.

"Leave him alone, bastard!" Morgana yelled through his biting.

This voice got Ryuji and Anne to turn around, now ignoring the Shadows. Sho on the other hand, kept fighting, doing quite well despite his lack of a Persona.

"Morgana?!" Ryuji screamed, "What the hell are you doing?!"

"Damn cat!" one of the other troops said, raising his own staff, "Get the hell off!"

Swinging it, the staff hit Morgana's side, sending him flying into the wall and falling to the ground.

"Don't you dare touch him!" Ryuji said, now swinging his hammer at the ambushed soldier, hitting him right in the gut. The troop was sent tumbling down the stairs, with the other two watching.

"Cocky brat!" one of them said, turning back to the three and casting a spell, "Magna-!"

He was interrupted by Anne's whip lashing him in the face, sending him down right after his partner. The third one was also sent flying by Ryuji, who was now growling in anger.

"You like that?!" he shouted.

"Shut up!" Sho said, barely breaking a sweat fighting the Shadows alone, "If you're gonna talk, talk! If you're gonna fight, fight! Pick one and get on it!"

"Now's not the time for petty arguments!" Anne said, "Get over yourself!"

"If you two are just gonna keep babbling, then I'll take these assholes on alone!" Sho retorted.

"Don't count me out," Akihiko said, running up beside Sho, "You're not going at this alone.

"You've got that right!" said Mako, who had followed Akihiko.

"Whatever!" Sho yelled, not missing a beat, "Just don't get in my way like those two!"

"Rrgh…" Ryuji muttered, "Prick…" He charged toward the door to attack the other stragglers who had gotten through. "I'll show you!" he said.

"Ryuji, wait!" Akihiko called as a Shadow prepared to take a swipe at him. A Shadow which was dealt with by Mako's Orpheus bashing it to death. Hearing this take place, Akihiko turned back, looking at the remains of his attacker before turning to Mako.

"Eyes up front!" she said with a grin, before going back to fighting the Shadows.

Akihiko knew she was right, they had a job to do. He raised his Evoker.

* * *

[Cue OP]

* * *

 **Chapter VII:** **The First Shots**

At the same time, the hooded soldiers about to cast Maragi on the other students near the back door. were interrupted by one of them getting hit by the broad side of a large axe. The owner of said axe then extended her other fist from a chain to punch another hooded man from a distance. The third one, distracted by this turn of events, was unable to avoid a heavy kick to his head from another attacker.

"Nice move Labrys!" Chie said.

"You too Chie!" Labrys replied.

It was now apparent that despite their ability to cast magic, the hooded soldiers were still quite susceptible to a good-old fashioned beating.

"What the hell?" Yukari said, "What happened to your arm?!"

"I'll explain later," Labrys said "Now get everyone out of here!"

"What?" Chie said, "But we can still help-"

"Just go!" Labrys said, "I was made to fight long before I had a Persona!"

"We're not leaving you!" Yosuke said, "What kind of friends would we be, doing that?"

Labrys glared at Yosuke.

"I can't babysit you all," she said, "It was already risky keeping you out here, but now it's for sure. You guys've gotta go!"

"Are you absolutely certain?" Yusuke said.

"Yeah," Labrys said, a wry smile appearing on her face, "I am."

"Ugh," Yosuke said, "Fine. C'mon guys! Let's get out through the back!"

"Right!" Yukari said, going to open the door, "I'm on it!"

The door was opened within a second, and the group piled in. Except for one. Makoto Yuki couldn't tell why, but he felt that if he ran into the back rooms now, then he would be going against some sort of… fate? Destiny? No. In reality he just didn't want to leave these strange people fighting with strange creatures alone. Not when they seemed to be trying so hard to keep those who couldn't defend themselves safe.

"Yuki-kun!" Yukari said, holding the door open "What are you doing? We have to go!"

"Yuki!" Labrys cried, "Move!"

Instead, Makoto stood still by the bar. Not wanting to retreat, but not knowing how to fight.

* * *

By that point, Ryuji was now positioned almost right behind Mitsuru and Yu, picking off the straggling troops with his hammer. It seemed that they were thinning down the numbers, but unfortunately, both Mitsuru and Yu were getting worn out. Naoto and Adachi were trying to pick off troops trying to get in through the windows. Makoto was standing by with her Evoker behind the desk, prepared to heal anyone who needed it.

"*Huff* *Huff*," Mitsuru was running out of breath. Maintaining Penthesilea was taking all of her concentration now. She would have to retreat sooner or later, but they still hadn't gotten anywhere close to attacking the commanders.

"Hmph," the lion-masked man said, "It appears that these lowly ones have some strength after all. No matter. Vulcanus!" He summoned his Persona once more, ready to cast a spell.

Mitsuru had seen this and paused in shock. This man had just summoned his Persona without an Evoker. He was clearly far more experienced with his Persona than any of their members. This situation was getting worse by the second.

"Agilao!" the lion masked man said, his Persona forming a large ball of fire before throwing it straight at Mitsuru.

Her pause was what condemned her. Had she not been so shocked by how casually the leader had summoned his Persona, she might have been able to dodge or block the attack in time. Had Yu not been so occupied with the other stragglers, he may have been able to block it for her. But none of this was the case, and the only saving grace Mitsuru had was that the fireball was not aimed perfectly. In turn, said fireball went soaring straight towards the leader of SEES, before slamming onto her left side and sending her flying back into the dorm, right by Ryuji, who, despite holding off the troops, caught sight of her.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!" Mitsuru screamed, her left arm being consumed by Vulcanus' fire.

"Makoto!" Ryuji yelled, still trying to fight, "Diarahan!"

Makoto immediately understood, and brought her Evoker to her head, summoning Johanna. Casting it from a distance, she focused on Mitsuru, and with a flourish of green energy, Mitsuru's struggling stopped. Unfortunately, Mitsuru was still incapacitated, the burn having left an incredibly visible scar on her left arm.

"Goddammit!" Ryuji said, hitting another soldier before crouching near Mitsuru and picking up her Evoker.

"I'm going in!" he yelled, now running outside past Narukami, "Don't you dare stop me!"

"Ryuji, wait!" Akira cried from across the room.

"Get Kirijo-san to the back of the room!" Ryuji ordered, "I'll deal with these bastards!"

Ryuji jumped and stepped over the heads of the soldiers before leaping towards the masked commanders and preparing to pull the trigger. He was about to summon Captain Kidd, but knew that he needed more firepower. This was probably gonna hurt like a bitch in the morning, but it was time to push himself to the limit. Now or never.

"SEITEN TAISEI!" he screamed, firing the Evoker, and bringing out his Persona, a punk-aesthetic monkey riding on a cloud. "ZIODYNE!" he cried, firing a large bolt of lightning at the lion masked man as he landed, hitting him dead on.

"RRAGH!" the lion masked man yelled, before crouching on the ground.

"How dare you!" Prince Taurus said, "How dare you attack King Leo so shamefully! EROS!" Bringing out his Persona, a woman covered in black wool and green heart symbols with a bow and arrow, Taurus prepared another magic attack, "Magna!"

All of a sudden, the road beside Taurus erupted from the ground, forming itself into small boulders that quickly went crashing into Ryuji's right leg and shoulder, knocking him down and leaving him sprawled out on the ground.

"ARRRGH!" Ryuji screamed, trying to hold in the pain.

"Does it hurt?" Taurus said, "Well don't worry… It'll all be gone soon!" He brought out Eros once again, preparing to finish Ryuji off, before an arm attached to a chain extended and grabbed Ryuji, pulling him back inside the dorm. Ryuji found himself in the grasp of Labrys, who was now running to the bar at the back of the room, where Akira and Goro were situated next to one another, having taken Mitsuru and Morgana to recuperate, and where Yukari was trying to convince Makoto to leave.

"How's Ryuji-kun?" Goro asked.

"He should be fine," Labrys said, "But he can't fight anymore. How's Mitsuru-san and Morgana?"

"For Kirijo-san, not good," Akira said, "The fire's out, but her arm's badly burned. She's lucky that Makoto managed to heal it so quickly, so it should be okay. Morgana's also badly injured. So we'll also need to get him over to Makoto as soon as possible."

"Well, with that out of the way, what now?" Goro said, "We're surrounded on all sides. If we don't act quick then the dorm is done for."

"I know!" Akira said, "Goddammit!" He was clearly having trouble coming up with a solution. Something which he wasn't used to. They had Akihiko, Anne, Mako, and Sho busy fighting the Shadow horde, Narukami now defending the front door alongside Adachi, who had filled Mitsuru's position with Magatsu-Izanagi, Naoto was still busy sniping, Makoto now taking charge of picking off soldiers slipping through their defense, their other allies were stuck in the back rooms, and they were busy keeping track of the injured. And the opponents still weren't running out of forces. This was hardly a good situation.

"Are you sure we shouldn't bring out the members without Evokers?" Goro said.

"No!" Akira yelled, "We can't bring them out now! They'll get themselves killed!"

"We can't hold on without extra manpower," Goro continued, "If we want to win this, we need to get them out here!"

"It doesn't matter how strong they are with their weapons," Akira said, "We're up against people who're far more experienced and prepared than us. It's suicide!"

"Even if a few of them die," Goro said, "It's better than just letting us all die."

"I guess you're still the same," Akira said, "You don't care about anyone else but yourself!"

"Say what you want about me," Goro retorted, "But if you're not willing to bring them out, then we're all dead."

"Shut up!" Akira screamed as he suddenly punched Goro in the face. Goro skidded across the floor for a moment before stopping, motionless. It took Akira a moment to process what he had just done. For as much as he hated Goro's guts, this was probably the worst time to have incapacitated him. Especially considering that he appeared to actually be on their side for once. The rest of the group simply stared at him in shock.

"Shit…" Akira said, trying to stay standing, "I can't believe I just did that…"

Everything that had happened that night was happening all at once to Makoto Yuki. He hadn't been given any time to process what he had seen, and all the moments were starting to blend into one another. He knew something needed to happen. He knew that these people needed a miracle at this point. And then suddenly, his eyes laid on something next to the knocked-out Akechi. A gun. The same kind of gun that Yukari had been carrying the day he met her. The same gun that everyone else had been shooting themselves with. The gun that had brought forth strange creatures. It was calling to him. Telling him to pick it up. Telling him to use it.

Makoto apprehensively walked towards Akechi, and when he was finally standing over the boy, crouched, and picked up the gun.

"Kurusu," he said, "I'm going to fight."

"What?" Akira said, struggling to concentrate over the stress.

And in that moment, Makoto Yuki stepped out into the path leading to the front door, and charged towards it.

"FUCK!" Akira yelled, realizing what Makoto was doing. Makoto on the other hand was grinning like a maniac.

"Go on," a familiar voice in his head whispered.

Everything happened in slow motion. Running between Narukami and Adachi. Kurusu running after him. Labrys and Yukari calling his name.

Suddenly, he came to a stop just outside of the dorm, right in front of the horde. Before they could react, he raised the gun to his head. Things were still slowed down. He could hear his heart beating faster than ever before. He could hear his breath accelerating. He felt everyone's attention was on him. But, undeterred, he applied pressure onto the trigger. He felt the fear of death staring him right in the face. But he had never felt so alive.

He smiled.

"Per… so… na!"

With the sound of shattering glass, and a burst of blue energy, Makoto Yuki's Persona was brought to life behind him, discharging its power as it appeared out of thin air. It was a mechanical figure, with a blue torso held together by a sphere linking the bottom and top halves, supporting a lyre on its back. Its white shoulders and forearms were linked by archaic-looking grey sockets, as were its thighs and lower legs. Its dark-grey face was covered by stark-white hair and a red scarf which connected to a hairband on its head. It was hovering behind Makoto, a spiral of what looked to be glass shards surrounding it, and speaking.

"Thou art I… And I am thou… From the sea of thy soul I cometh… I am Orpheus, Master of Strings."

Akira, who had stopped right behind Makoto, was at a loss for words. He knew that this Makoto Yuki guy was a Persona user beforehand, but something about this summoning was just… entrancing.

As Makoto grinned in satisfaction, Orpheus let out an inhuman screeching noise. And then… Pain. Suddenly, Makoto's head had been set upon with an intense sting, and Orpheus began writhing. Suddenly, two hands pulled its head down through its scarf, before taking a hold of its body and ripping it apart. Suddenly, Orpheus had been replaced by something else entirely. It was a large Persona, dressed in white gloves and boots and a black longcoat with a mask over its face, which was in turn covered by what looked to be a skeletal bird mask. Chains draped over its shoulders connected to a semi-circle of coffins floating behind the creature, and around its waist was a belt with a skull and crossbones on the buckle. Letting out guttural roars as the pain receded from Makoto's head, the Persona drew a sword from a sheath on its waist, and lunged forward at the horde of hooded soldiers.

What followed was an absolute massacre. Making sweeping blows with its sword, throwing soldiers around, and hitting them with almighty magic, Makoto's Persona was doing exactly what SEES needed. And doing it far better than they had been up to that point. Everyone in the dorm stopped and stared at the spectacle. It was brutal, almost painful to watch, but they couldn't help but focus on it. Yu, however, having finally gotten a break from fighting the soldiers, quickly realized that this was their chance, and began giving directions, quickly grabbing the room's attention.

"Nijima!" he shouted, turning to Makoto (Nijima), "Get to Morgana and heal him!"

She nodded, and broke into a sprint to the back of the room.

Yu turned to Labrys and Yukari, "Labrys! Takeba! Help push back the Shadows upstairs!"

"Right!" they said, running to the stairs, and joining the fray.

He looked to Naoto, "Naoto! We need you on the offensive with us!"

Naoto nodded and rushed to his side.

Finally, he turned to Akira, "Kurusu! You're with us too!"

Snapping out of his shock, Akira ran over to the door to witness first hand what Makoto's Persona was doing. It was still knocking the soldiers all over the place, and the two masked commanders clearly didn't anticipate this turn of events. They were firing off magic at it, but none of it seemed to have any effect. Now, Yu, Adachi, Akira, and Naoto had a clear shot to them, and they weren't wasting it.

"I think I know what you're going for," Akira said, "But are you sure that we can take care of these guys with just us four?"

"Hope you don't mind me tagging along," a voice said from behind them.

Looking behind them, the attack team saw that Mako, naginata in hand, had joined them.

"What are you-" Akira started.

"I'll tell you later," Mako said, "In the meantime, we've got more important things to worry about."

"She's right," Adachi said, "At this point we've got nothing to lose."

"For once, I agree with Adachi," said Naoto, "It's time for us to strike back."

"If you say so," Akira conceded, "On your mark, Narukami."

The group tensed, once again facing outside, hands on their Evokers and weapons waiting for the right moment to strike.

The horde of soldiers was now down to the tens, and Makoto's Persona was now simply hunting down stragglers individually.

"Damn," Akira said, looking at Makoto, "You're pretty good, Yuki-san."

"Don't flatter me," Makoto replied, "If you're gonna attack, then attack. I can't keep this up much longer."

"Right," Yu said, focused on King Leo and Prince Taurus, "Let's go!"

And with the signal given, all four of them charged towards the masked commanders.

* * *

Labrys had decided to go for broke with her robotic nature. There wasn't going to be any hiding it after what had happened tonight, so she figured that she had no business concealing it any further. Running over to the stairs, she opted to attach her axe to her back, and fired up the thrusters.

"Labrys!" Yukari cried, "What are you doing?!"

"Fighting for real," she replied.

With a running start, she jumped into the air and flew up the stairwell, passing over the heads of Akihiko, Anne, Yukari, and Sho. However, before she reached the second floor, she had something to do.

"Anne!" she yelled, "Take this!"

Having grabbed Anne's attention, Labrys dropped an Evoker, Mitsuru's Evoker recovered from Ryuji, which Anne immediately grabbed and brought to her head.

"Carmen!"

With that, the flamboyantly dressed female Persona with two lovestruck assistants in tow was brought forth.

"Agi!" Anne commanded, prompting Carmen to throw a blast of fire at the horde.

Labrys continued to fly to the second floor, and set herself down at the top of the stairs. She had a simple idea to disrupt the horde. And now that she wasn't holding back, she could finally turn the tides.

"Ariadne!"

Labrys' Persona, Ariadne, took the form of a silver-haired mechanical woman. Her shoulders, torso, and legs were covered by metallic plating, and her lower half had was partly covered by flowing white cloth. Labrys had held off on summoning Ariadne without an Evoker so as not to reveal that she was an Anti-Shadow Weapon. Now, that was no longer a concern. With Ariadne at her side, Labrys began attacking the Shadows going down the stairs.

"Weavers's Art: Breaking Wheel!"

Suddenly, Ariadne created a glowing red string, which took the form of several spinning gears that manifested under the Shadows on the stairs. These wheels tore at the Shadows, ripping them apart until there were barely any Shadows left. Using it left Labrys pretty drained, but fortunately, she was more than able to keep up the fight. Now, she just had to prevent more Shadows from coming down to replace the ones she just defeated. Turning to face the other direction, she found that the stream of Shadows coming in from the windows had seemingly stopped from the boy's dorm, and the only Shadows that were attacking seemed to be coming from upstairs. They were getting close. This battle was almost over.

"Labrys!" Anne's voice called from downstairs, "You okay?"

"Yeah!" Labrys responded, "Never better!"

Suddenly, the rest of the group came running upstairs, this time with Makoto Nijima.

"Nijima-san?" Labrys said, "What about the cat?"

"Morgana's over near the other injured parties," Makoto replied, "He'll be fine."

"Shouldn't you have left someone to protect 'em though?" Labrys said.

"Well…" Akihiko said, "Sho's doing that, actually."

Labrys just stared at Akihiko like he had grown an extra head.

"You're pullin' my leg, right?" she pleaded.

"Actually," Anne said, "His excuse was, 'The less time I have to fight with you idiots, the better.'"

Oh, now everything made perfect sense.

"Anyway," Makoto interrupted, "Let's get back to the task at hand."

Nodding, everyone turned to face the staircase to the third floor, and charged. Yukari ended up pulling ahead, and as they rushed into battle, Labrus noticed that Yukari had her Evoker to her head.

"I can't be left behind… IO!"

* * *

The five members of the downstairs team, meanwhile, had rushed straight past Makoto (Yuki)'s Persona, and had begun to attack the two commanders. Realizing that King Leo was still injured from Ryuji's attack earlier, Yu opted to attack him first.

"Izanagi!" he cried, raising his evoker to his head and firing. With Izanagi summoned, it sped towards King Leo.

"Vulcanus!" King Leo cried, summoning his own Persona, who caught Izanagi's spear. However, while Vulcanus was able to keep Izanagi at bay, it still had to contend with several other Persona users.

"Sukuna-Hikona!" Naoto cried, summoning her small Persona to her side. It flew to Izanagi's side, and with its laser sword, slashed Vulcanus in the chest. This gave Izanagi the opportunity to regain control of its spear and swing it at Vulcanus once more, this time, uninterrupted. With that slash, Vulcanus disappeared, and King Leo was left vulnerable.

"Damn!" King Leo swore, drawing a sword from his waist, "Have at thee!"

Unfortunately for King Leo, the opposition wasn't intent on playing fair. Adachi, who had been around the back of the pack, raised his revolver, and shot at him. The bullet flew at and landed in King Leo's right shoulder, making him drop the sword.

"AAAAARRRRRGH!" King Leo shrieked, "YOU DAMN BRATS!"

"Heh," Adachi chuckled, "Don't lump me in with these kids."

At the same time, Akira and Mako had attacked Prince Taurus, who was struggling to keep his cool in the face of the turning tides.

"DIE! DIE! DIE!" he yelped, using Eros to fire more boulders from the ground. Despite the fact that he was certainly more experienced and had a stronger Persona, his lack of composure made it easy for Arsene and the female Orpheus to dodge or deflect the projectiles.

"Bash him!" Mako shouted, as Orpheus raised its heart-shaped lyre and slammed it into Eros, forcing it to recede.

"Arsene!" Akira ordered, "Get him!"

Arsene closed in on Prince Taurus, leg raised, and once it was right up next to him, kicked the Prince in his side, sending him flying down the street.

While Prince Taurus had gone down without much of a fight, King Leo was still trying to hold on. Once again, he had summoned Vulcanus, but now he was posing a legitimate threat to his opponents. He was now indiscriminately throwing around Agidynes, and it was clear just how much stronger he actually was in terms of raw power. The group was frantically dodging, knowing just how bad one of those fireballs hurt. It seemed at this point that he cared little for self preservation, and was simply trying to kill as many of them as possible.

Suddenly, Vulcanus set its sights on Akira, who had just finished with his ally, enraged by just how terribly things were going, he fired off an Agidyne in his direction

"Watch out!" Mako cried, jumping into the path of the fireball, taking the brunt of the attack. Thankfully, her resistance to fire kept her from sustaining any major injuries.

"GOD DAMMIT!" King Leo screamed, losing his bearings even more "WHY WON'T YOU ALL JUST DIE?!"

Suddenly, something grabbed the back of King Leo's head and raised him up. It was Makoto Yuki's Persona, finally finished with the foot soldiers. Everyone stopped for a moment to stare at its terrifying glory. The Persona then quickly moved over to where Prince Taurus was lying and picked him up in the same way. It brought its arms up, faced the two together, and slammed their faces into one another, shattering the pair's masks, before it dropped them.

"AAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRGH!"

The Persona let out a final, blood-curdling screech before it abruptly turned back into the male Orpheus and disappeared. And with that, Makoto Yuki collapsed, Mako running over to catch him.

"Ahhh…" she hissed, still in pain from taking King Leo's attack, with Yu rushing over to support her.

"Take it easy," he said, "You can relax now."

Absolute silence filled the street in front of the Iwatodai dorms. What had just happened was nothing short of a miracle. They had won. Completely. Against all odds. And it was all thanks to the mysterious Makoto Yuki. They stood in silence for what seemed like an eternity. Akira and Naoto sat down where they were standing, exhausted from the fight. Yu and Mako sat down on the steps, with Makoto fast asleep. Adachi was the only one to remain upright, but he was still catching his breath. They stayed like this for a few minute before Yu heard a voice behind himself.

"Hey guys…" it groaned, "What's up?"

Turning around, Yu found Ryuji, being supported by Anne's shoulder, with the rest of the team from upstairs. Akira's face had a mask of elated surprise,

"So," Ryuji said, "We win?"

Akira stood up and walked over to him.

"Yeah," he said, a warm smile on his face, "We made it."

"Come on, man…" Ryuji said weakly, "You looked death in the face and won, live a little."

"Yeah," Akira said, backing up and taking a deep breath, "*Hee* *Hoo*,"

For a moment, there was silence again, before suddenly…

"YEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAH!" Akira let out a loud victory cry.

"Don't get ahead of yourself," a distorted voice said from behind him, "This is only the beginning."

Everyone's attention shifted to where the voice was coming from, which was right by the unconscious bodies of King Leo and Prince Taurus. There was now a figure in a white uniform with a large black and yellow headdress resembling a jeter's. His face looked as if it was covered in white, black, and purple make-up, with one visible blue eye. He was carrying a large yellow flower.

"Ugh…" King Leo moaned, "You little shits…" He raised his face, revealing a twenty-something year-old man with greenish-blonde hair, a large burn scar on the right side of his face, and an empty socket where his right eye should have been.

Prince Taurus was also trying to get up, showing himself to be a man in his thirties, with black hair and small, drawn-in yellow eyes.

"You have all done well," the jester said, "But rest assured, the ease with which you won tonight is not what you should anticipate going forth."

Realizing that this man was likely the leader of the group, Akira brought his knife up, rushed at him and stabbed, only to be met with his blade hitting thin air. The jester had teleported himself, as well as the rest of his allies, out of Akira's reach.

"Now is not the time," the jester said, "Soon, you will know my power. The power of Joker. But for the time being, you are safe."

Not one to listen to his foes prattle on, Akira charged once more at the strange man, knife raised to stab at his chest, but this time, Akira's arm was caught before the knife reached his foe.

"Don't get ahead of yourself," Joker mocked, "What you have seen today is only a fraction of the Masked Circle's true power."

Suddenly, a gunshot rang out, and Joker jumped back once more, narrowly dodging a bullet coming his way. The bullet had come from Naoto's revolver, and she was lining up another shot.

"Akira-san!" she said, "Fall back!"

Begrudgingly, Akira jumped back out of Joker's reach, still in a fighting stance.

"Don't worry," Joker said, "You escaped your fate this time, but someday, we will meet again. And we will fight. Let this Iris be my testament."

Joker tossed his yellow flower to Akira's feet, and suddenly, in a burst of black energy, he and his subordinates disappeared. Leaving the group alone, and Akira pissed off.

"WHAT THE HELL?!"

* * *

On the roof of the Iwatodai dorms, Naoya Todou was observing the chaos from above. He had been there all night, warding of the Shadows with the mere presence of Seimen Kongou. It had been an ordeal to observer, and he was totally drained from the experience.

Suddenly, his phone received a text. Normally, such things were impossible during the Dark Hour, but Philemon's texts and calls were the exception. The text read, "Good work. Keep observing them and reporting back to the Sumaru group. Remember, until January, stay out of their business."

"Damn…" he said, closing his phone and getting up to go, "I feel so useless…"

* * *

April 10, 2009

12:05

Sumaru City: Parabellum Bar

Later that night, at Sumaru City's Parabellum Bar, a group of three individuals were all seated in a booth, facing three empty chairs. On the left sat a man in a white suit with slicked-up black hair, to his right was a brown-haired, grey-eyed woman in a black suit, and to her right was a brown-haired, brown-eyed woman with a red hairband also in a black suit. They were currently making small talk, waiting for someone to arrive.

"Damn…" said black-haired man, "This Dark Hour thing is brutal…"

They had just found themselves caught in the Dark Hour, and had to deal with random Shadows attacking them from all sides. Thankfully, they had their COMPS with them, and were able to kill any Shadows that came their way.

"We should probably just be glad that our COMPS work," said a brown-haired, brown-eyed woman in a black suit with a red hairband.

"It's not like those 'Shadow,' things are much of a match for us anyway," said the grey-eyed woman, "We'd probably be perfectly fine without our COMPS."

"What is it that makes the COMPS work during the Dark Hour anyway?" asked the black-hair man.

"Well," said the hairband woman, "They can already summon demons, can't they? Why are we questioning anything about them at this point?"

"Now that I think about it," said the grey-eyed woman, "How are these things powered? We never need to charge them or replace their batteries."

"Once again, probably has something to do with the whole 'demon summoning,' part," the black-haired man said said, "Putting that aside though… Why is Amano so late?"

"She recently had her workload increased," the hairband woman said, "Her camerawoman had to leave for an interview on some kind of reality show recently, and she had to pull double duty for her magazine job."

"I think I've seen that show before…" the gray-eyed woman said, "'Who's Who,' right? Naoya always said that the hostess looked familiar."

"Just how far back do you and Toudou go again, Tamaki?" the hairband woman asked.

"I went to St. Hermelin High with him," Tamaki replied, "He was always just an acquaintance. We talked a bit, and he confided in me about this whole 'Persona,' business, but now it's just exploded…"

"If I didn't know any better," the black-haired man said, "I'd say that Devil Summoning was going out of style. And after it's been around so long too…"

"Yeah!" the hairband woman said, "I don't know if Kyouji or I ever mentioned this, but demons used to be summoned with tubes! You had to actually capture them by force way back when!"

"Which Kyouji?" the black-haired man said, "Me? Or the wandering freeloading spirit? You gotta be specific, Rei."

"Either/Or," Rei said dismissively, "Didn't Tamaki work for the original Kyouji though?"

"For a while, yeah," Tamaki answered, "I always wondered why he wanted me and Tadashi to wear those specific outfits, but then I met you two and it all made sense."

Tamaki, along with her ex-husband Tadashi, used to work for the Kuzunoha Detective Agency in Sumaru City, run by a possessed man named Daisuke Todoroki. She only later found out the complete story of Todoroki's possession from the Kyouji who she now knew. Tamaki and Tadashi often wore suits resembling the ones Kyouji and Rei were currently wearing while under Todoroki's employ.

"Does he just have some sort of attachment to those outfits or something?" Kyouji asked.

"Who knows…?" said Tamaki.

Suddenly, the bar's door opened, and a few familiar figures walked in.

"Hey everyone!" a chipper voice said, "Sorry I'm late! Had to get a friend!"

Looking over to the bar's entrance, the group found a black haired woman in a sarcoline and brown jacket, with pink hearts emblazoned on the chest. A blue tie hung loosely from her neck. Alongside her were a brown-haired man in a grey suit with a red undershirt and sunglasses.

"Maya!" Tamaki got up to hug her old friend, an act reciprocated by Maya, "It's good to see you all again! Thanks for bringing Katsuya!"

Tamaki and Maya had become familiar with each other during an incident several years back involving a malevolent god called Nyarlathotep, and one of his bets with the god Philemon. Her Tatsuya Suou, the brother of her acquaintance Katsuya, had awakened memories of an alternate universe where the world had ended, creating a paradox that threatened to destroy their world. Along with Katsuya, a dancer named Ulala Serizawa, a wiretapper named Kaoru Saga (AKA Baofu), and Kei Nanjo, a veteran Persona user, Maya and Tatsuya embarked on a journey to stop Nyarlathotep's plans. Tamaki hadn't been very involved with Maya's group in a direct sense, but she was familiar enough with the reporter to be called a friend. Eventually, Maya's party had fought their own Shadows and Nyarlathotep directly, and won. Tatsuya then sacrificed his memories of the alternate world in order to correct the paradox, and from there on, everything had gone back to normal. Maya had talked about the experience quite a bit with Tamaki, who, after the events had passed, became part of an organization known as the Kuzunohas, a group of Devil Summoners whose protection of Japan from supernatural threats dated back to the Heian period. Her associates were members of said organization, and they were also privy to this information. Kyouji was one of the four leaders of the clan, as he technically possessed the "Kyouji," title, one of the four titles of the clan's leaders, the others being, "Raidou," "Geiren," and "Yoichi." Each of these titles were handed down based not on genetics, but talent, and each was assigned to different posts around the country. The most famous leader of the clan was the fourteenth Raidou Kuzunoha, a man by the name of Johei, who was lauded with having saved Japan twice on his own. Kyouji technically hadn't earned the role himself, however.

Kyouji was actually a former college student named Subaru Itou, who had found himself mixed up in the business of a Devil Summoning detective by the name of Kyouji Kuzunoha. He had unfortunately found himself at the mercy of a deranged serial killer called Sid Davis, and ended up dead. Fortunately for him, and unfortunately for Kyouji, the detective had also been recently killed, and Subaru's soul had found its way into Kyouji's body, allowing him to act against Davis' plans of world domination with new Devil Summoning capabilities. Kyouji's soul on the other hand, was still wandering around jumping from body to body, leaving Subaru to take his name and identity. He had ended up involved with the clan, doing various missions for them thereafter at the behest of its leader, Madame Ginko. For the most part, he had succeeded in becoming the original Kyouji's successor, even if he had caught some flack for showing up late to a particularly dire incident in Amami City a couple years ago. He had met up with Tamaki after she had been assigned to handle the business with the Dark Hour, and she was to be his guide to Sumaru City for the time being.

"It's great to see you too, Tamaki!" replied Maya.

Katsuya on the other hand, took the seat opposite Rei immediately.

"Not that I'm unhappy to see you, Uchida-san," he said, "But I'd like to know why you're here."

"Right," Tamaki said, breaking the hug and sitting down, Maya taking the seat opposite her.

"Now," she said, "These are my associates, Kyouji Kuzunoha and Rei Reiho."

"A pleasure," Kyouji said.

"Nice to meet you," Rei said.

"Maya Amano!" Maya said with a smile.

"Katsuya Suou," said Katsuya.

"With that out of the way," Tamaki said, "Let's cut right to the chase. I believe you're all aware of this, 'Extra Hour,' phenomenon that happens every midnight?"

"Yeah," Katsuya said, "It caught me off guard the first few times. I called Maya and the other Persona users after its first occurance, but we never learned much about it."

"Well," Kyouji continued, "We know it as the 'Dark Hour,' and we also know that its existence is tied to the Kirijo Group."

"Ten years ago, there was an accident at a laboratory run by the Kirijo Group on Tatsumi Port Island," Rei said, "Ever since, the Dark Hour has been present. It started as a localized phenomenon on the Island, but it's expanded to the entirety of Japan ever since."

"And how exactly did you find this out?" Katsuya said, apprehensively, "I doubt that the Kirijo Group publicly announced that they added a whole other hour to the day while we weren't paying attention."

"Nanjo," answered Tamaki, "His group is heavily affiliated with the Kirijo Group, so he was able to dig up some information on it." She noticed confused looks on Rei and Kyouji's faces, "Oh, Kei Nanjo was a friend of Naoya's back in high school too, and he also worked with these two for a time."

"Wow," Rei said in awe, "I knew that you had connections with his family, but I didn't know you were friendly with Kei Nanjo himself!"

"Anyway," Kyouji said, "During the Dark Hour, Shadows are able to run rampant in non-corporeal forms made of a collective negativity, as opposed to the doppelganger Shadows that you're familiar with. Normally, people stay inside coffins during the Dark Hour, and can't remember it. But these Shadows attack anyone unfortunate enough to be outside their coffins. There are two reasons why one would be outside a coffin. One being that it happened by chance, or two being that they're a Devil or Persona summoner."

"But wait," Maya said, "If people keep getting attacked by the Shadows, wouldn't unexplained deaths be on the rise, big time?"

"See, that's where things get bad," Rei said, "If Shadows attack someone during the Dark Hour, they'll likely end up with something called, 'Apathy Syndrome,' leaving them in a vegetative state."

"So in other words," Katsuya said, "The longer the Dark Hour goes on, the more people are left as vegetables, and the more people have to spend time and money on keeping them alive."

"Exactly," Kyouji said, "The police have been unable to deal with them, as the amount of people who have natural Persona-summoning potential is slim. But we didn't just come here to tell you that and leave." Kyouji then brought up a large case from his side, "Now, according to what you have told us about the 'Other Side,' there are four other people who lived in Sumaru City who had the ability to summon Personas. Tatsuya Suou, Eikichi Mishina, Lisa Silverman, and Jun Kashihara, correct?"

"Yeah…" Maya said, "Though we've been trying to avoid contact with them to avoid spiking any potential memories."

"Well, regardless," Kyouji said, opening the case, "I need you to get them together."

Inside the case were four gun-shaped objects. Katsuya and Maya stared in shock.

"Guys," Maya said, "Is this a present? Because even if I still used those things I doubt I could use four of them at once. What do you want me to do? Stick the other two on my heels?"

"They're not real guns," said Tamaki, "These are Evokers, methods by which non-experienced Persona users with potential can summon Personas during the Dark Hour, and potentially the normal world. We need you to find and develop the talents of the other four, and gather any other Persona users you know by the beginning of January 2010. Do whatever you need to avoid reminding them of the 'Other Side.'"

"Wait, hold up," Maya said, closing the case, "Two questions. One: Where did you get these? And Two: What's this about January?"

"Well," Tamaki said, "For number one, Nanjo also helped out with that."

"Also, I assume you've met a being named Philemon?" Rei said, "Because he recently contacted a friend of ours. He told him, 'There will be a war in January. Stay your involvement with the Dark Hour's mystery until then. In the meantime, gather allies. When the time comes, come to Tatsumi Port Island, and knock at the door of the Iwatodai Dormitory.'"

"Philemon?!" Maya said, "What's his involvement in this?!"

"We have no idea," Kyouji said, "All we know is that you need to get as many people on our side as possible before then. This is bigger than just Tatsumi Port Island. Just a minute ago, our ally Naoya sent us of a couple of pictures with people matching the descriptions of the deceased Tatsuya Sudo and Ginji Sasaki."

"What?!" Katsuya said, now standing, "You're lying!"

"Believe it or don't," Kyouji smugly replied, "But it's the truth. Something's going on, and we need to prepare."

The table went silent. No one dared speak. The turn of events was so strange that even those who had come to inform Maya and Katsuya about it were at a loss for words now. The silence was only broken when Katsuya accepted the case.

"We'll try our best…" Katsuya said begrudgingly, "But even if we can't get those four to help, we'll still find the others for you."

"I'll do my best too," Maya followed up, "I guess I did miss Tatsuya a bit anyway."

"Maya," Katsuya said, "I know you want to see him again, but you have to be cautious about it. Otherwise…"

"C'mon, Katsuya!" Maya said, recovering from her earlier unease, and giving Katsuya a pat on the back, "Keep positive! As long as there's a chance, there's always a reason to keep going!"

"Glad to hear it," Tamaki said, "Rei and Kyouji will stay here at the Hotel Pleiades to help you out with training and gathering your friends. I'll be rendezvousing with Naoya over at Tatsumi Port Island in a couple days."

"Alright," Maya said, "Sounds like a plan! Now let's catch up!"

"Yeah," Tamaki chuckled, "It's been too long, hasn't it?"

"I suppose work has been a bit busy lately…" Katsuya admitted.

And so, the group of Persona users and Devil Summoners talked well into next morning. Rejoicing and hangovers ensued.

* * *

April 10, 2009

?

Makoto Yuki's Velvet Room

After Makoto Yuki had spent his energy fighting off the masked assailants, he had collapsed in fatigue. Almost immediately afterwards, he had found himself inside the Velvet Room once again, with Igor and Elizabeth in the same places as last time.

"It's so nice to see you again," Igor spoke, "You became unconscious after awakening to your "power." It's nothing to worry about though, so just relax."

Something about the way Igor said that unnerved Makoto, but he continued listening.

"By the way," Igor resumed, "I see that it was Orpheus that heeded your calling. That power is called Persona… It is a manifestation of your psyche."

"A Persona?" Makoto questioned.

"It is a facet of your personality that surfaces as you react to external stimuli…" Igor responded, "You can think of it as a mask that protects you as you brave many hardships. That being said, your power is still weak."

"Whaddaya mean 'weak'?" Makoto said, kind of offended.

"When you use your Persona ability, you must channel your inner strength," Igor replied, "The ability evolves as you develop your Social Links—your emotional ties with others.

The stronger your Social Links, the more powerful your Persona ability. Please remember that. Now, then… Time marches on in your world. I shouldn't keep you here any longer. When next we meet, you will come here of your own accord. And this time, you won't be alone. Until then… Farewell."

There was that phrase again. 'This time.' What the hell was this old man talking about? Once again, Makoto failed to get an answer, as he had drifted into yet another bout of unconsciousness.

* * *

ED: Itsudatte Communication

Normal=Visual

 _Italics=Lyrics_

 _*Instrumental*_

As the music starts, the scene shows an alarm clock ringing, followed by someone putting on their school uniform, breakfast being cooked, the calendar being marked, the Iwatodai Dorm doors opening as several people exit in a hurry.

 _sotto yorisou kata kagiri aru jikan taisetsu ni_

The scene changes to show the three teams running to school, seemingly late for classes, each of them showing a varying degree of urgency.

 _ugoku hako no naka de hazumaseta mune no oto_

The various members are seen attending their classes, some of them like Yu, Yukiko, Makoto (Nijima), Mitsuru, etc are paying attention to the lessons, while others like Akira, Junpei, Yosuke, Ryuji, etc don't seem to be paying attention, some even dozing off.

 _negaigoto wa nani kana? minna kanaete kureru_

The scene changes to show the group having a meal in Hagakure, some of them are eating at a sedated pace, while others, like Teddie, are stuffing their faces with bowl after bowl.

 _subete o tsutsunda midoriiro shita hikaru hoshi_

The scene changes to show a clock as it ticks slowly and hits midnight.

 _junbi dekita yo_

The scene shows the three teams standing before Tartarus, determined looks in their eyes.

 _tooku totemo tooku aruite kita yo ne issho ni_

The teams are seen fighting through several waves of shadows, working hand in hand to take out Shadow after Shadow

 _kokoro kikasete mite subarashii kono mainichi ni_

The scene changes to show Fuuka, Rise, and Futaba all working together to scan the area, while the combat members are having healing spells casted on them as they take a break.

 _tooi sekai ni hora kitai to mirai mo aru kara_

The scene changes to show the teams looking out of one of the balconies of Tartarus, having defeated another large Shadow

 _namida nagasanaide yorimichi mo tama ni wa ii ne_

The final scene shows all of them lying together in a sunny field, fast asleep with content looks on their faces.

* * *

Oh, God. That was exhausting. Hey there guys, it's me, Diego. Now, I was initially planning to make this chapter even longer than it already was, but considering how I've also been working on Chapter 8 and playing like a million different games at once (SMTIV:A, P3:FES, Trails of Cold Steel, TMS#FE, and Pokken Tournament just to name a few) I've been kind of slammed. Regardless, I think you can now get a pretty good idea of what I'm trying to do here. The battle was really fun to write, and it makes me look forward to writing some of the fights I have planned in the future.

Kyouji's name in this was just me taking whatever Japanese first and last names popped into my head at the moment and throwing them in. He'll be called Kyouji just for convenience's sake, but that doesn't mean that we won't see Kyouji prime later down the line.

Anyway, I don't have much else to say. So, bye.


	8. Update and Preview

Hey guys, it's Diego. I just want to say that I'm really, really sorry for taking so long. Life's just been really overwhelming, and while I'd like to vent, that'd be betraying you all. So I've decided that I'll just let you know that this story is not dead, and that I will be updating it within the week. For now, have this preview, you've earned it.

* * *

April 17, 2009

3:45 PM

Tatsumi Memorial Hospital: Makoto Yuki's Room

Makoto Yuki, to be blunt, woke up feeling like shit. He figured that there wasn't really any other way to wake up after a group of masked cultists attack his dormitory with magic and his dorm mates also started using magic but almost got horribly maimed in the process, but that didn't really make him feel any better. Opening his eyes felt like too much trouble, as he figured that there wasn't really much to see anyway. He was definitely sleeping in a bed, a comfortable one, at that, and he didn't feel much pain. But he couldn't shake the feeling that he had probably been sleeping for far longer than he should have. Reluctantly, he finally opened his eyes, greeted with the sight of an unfamiliar room. It looked like it was a hospital. Pretty understandable, all things considered. Looking to the left, he found that he had a few visitors. Yukari, Mako, and that one girl from the dorm that looked like Elizabeth were all seated there. They were caught off guard by him waking up, but Yukari quickly recovered and began talking.

"Thank goodness. You finally came to…" she said, "…Oh, this is Tatsumi Memorial Hospital. It's just a short walk from the station."

"The doctors all said that you were perfectly fine," Mako said, "Nothing wrong except a bout of exhaustion."

"Honestly, I'm not surprised…" Yukari said, "Your power was pretty overwhelming."

"Power?" Makoto asked, "You mean that… thing that I summoned?"

"The technical term is, 'Persona'," the Elizabeth lookalike said, "Oh, but excuse me. I haven't introduced myself, now have I? I am Elizabeth. Though I believe we've already met."

Okay, now things were getting strange again. This girl was almost certainly the Elizabeth he saw in the Velvet Room, which meant that it was probably more than just a dream. Now the question was this: Why is Elizabeth here in the first place? Makoto decided to dock that question in favor of not rambling about a recurring dream to people who probably wouldn't take him seriously.

"Nice to meet you again," he responded, "How are you doing? Last night was pretty rough for all of us."

"I am currently in perfect condition," Elizabeth said before her face suddenly showed a hint of sadness, "Though unfortunately, I cannot say the same for our allies."

"N-no one died!" Mako interjected, "A lot of us just… had to recuperate for a while."

Flashbacks suddenly began playing in Makoto's mind. Mitsuru being burned by a fireball. Sakamoto getting pulled into the dorm unconscious. Akechi getting punched in the face. That cat getting slammed against a wall. His dorm mates retreating in fear. Everything came back to him at once. He shot up, now sitting, and breathing incredibly quickly. The feeling was unfamiliar to him. He couldn't remember the last time he had actually felt as if his own mortality was staring him in his face. And yet here he was, anxious to the point where he almost felt like throwing up.

"A-are you okay?!" Yukari asked, concerned, "You look really bad. Someone call for a nurse!"

Mako got out of her chair and almost ran out of the room.

"It's fine…" Makoto said, slowing down his breathing, "I just need some time to take it all in."

Mako stopped right in front of the door and looked at Makoto. While he was a bit more stable, he was still shaking. Ever since that night ten years ago he hadn't once felt a rush like the one he had last night. He had never experienced fear like that. Experienced catharsis like that. Or experienced pleasure like that. The moment he pulled the trigger on the gun-like object, he had been exposed to a sensation of unmitigated contentedness that he had never once felt to such a degree. But with it came fear. Fear of injury, fear of death, fear of what might happen to others. It wasn't that he had never felt these things before, it was simply that they had never been so pronounced and extreme.

"Don't push yourself," Elizabeth chided, "We're certainly not afraid to help you if need be."

"Really," Makoto said, "I'm fine."

"Well," Mako said, "Even if you feel fine, you should probably take it easy for a bit. You've been out for a long time. Two weeks, actually."

 _That_ made Makoto lie back down. All he could think about now was how much school work he needed to catch up on. This sucked.

"Well," Mako said, "I think I'm gonna go check on the others. That sound good to you?"

"Sure," Yukari said, "Tell them I said hi."

"I think I'll go as well," Elizabeth said, "They do say, after all, that three is a crowd."

With that, Elizabeth walked over to the door, joined Mako, and made her way out alongside her. Makoto and Yukari were now alone. Makoto decided to break the ice first.

"If three's a crowd, then what's four?"

* * *

Tatsumi Memorial Hospital: Room 305

Room 305 of Tatsumi Memorial Hospital had been given to the other injured parties from the raid on the dormitory. Mitsuru, Ryuji, Goro, Mako, and Morgana were all residents during the two-week stay, but currently, only Mitsuru and Ryuji were occupying the room. Mako, Goro, and Morgana's injuries were all light enough that they recovered quickly. Ryuji had to be treated for injuries to his leg and ribs, both of which healed well enough, though his leg needed a bit more time compared to his upper body. He had also heavily worn himself out from his use of Seiten Taisei. Normally, unisex rooms would have been prohibited, but it was figured that such a thing was necessary in order to keep word of the attack on the down-low. At the time, Ryuji was the only one in the room, Mitsuru having gone out to get lunch. Ryuji himself was still confined to a bed, dressed in a hospital gown. He was sitting up, reading a sports magazine that he had probably read fifty times now over the week. Suddenly, the door opened, and Akira, along with the rest of the Thieves, walked in. He was carrying a plastic bag.

"Yo," he said, "You getting bored?"

Ryuji piped up a bit.

"Nah," he lied, "I'm plenty entertained."

"Well just in case," Akira said, "We got you a gift. To celebrate your release."

He fished his bad for a something, and quickly pulled out an old issue of a weekly Shounen magazine.

"I know that it's all old news to you," Akira said, "But it's better than just reading the same old sports mag over and over, right?

"Heh…" Ryuji conceded, "You know me all too well…"

"Leader," Morgana, who was currently in Akira's new bag, said, "We shouldn't beat around the bush. We need to talk for real now that Kirijo-san's finally out of the room."

"Yeah," Akira said, handing the magazine to Ryuji, "Everyone grab a seat."

The room thankfully had enough stools to sustain most of the group, though some still had to stand. Now they were ready to talk.

"Alright," Akira began, "Let's talk about this, 'Masked Circle.'"


	9. Chapter 8: Wake

Look guys. It's been a while. Let's just get to the story, then I'll rant at the end.

* * *

April 17, 2009

3:45 PM

Tatsumi Memorial Hospital: Makoto Yuki's Room

Makoto Yuki, to be blunt, woke up feeling like shit. He figured that there wasn't really any other way to wake up after a group of masked cultists attack his dormitory with magic and his dorm mates also started using magic but almost got horribly maimed in the process, but that didn't really make him feel any better. Opening his eyes felt like too much trouble, as he figured that there wasn't really much to see anyway. He was definitely sleeping in a bed, a comfortable one, at that, and he didn't feel much pain. But he couldn't shake the feeling that he had probably been sleeping for far longer than he should have. Reluctantly, he finally opened his eyes, greeted with the sight of an unfamiliar room. It looked like it was a hospital. Pretty understandable, all things considered. Looking to the left, he found that he had a few visitors. Yukari, Mako, and that one girl from the dorm that looked like Elizabeth were all seated there. They were caught off guard by him waking up, but Yukari quickly recovered and began talking.

"Thank goodness. You finally came to…" she said, "…Oh, this is Tatsumi Memorial Hospital. It's just a short walk from the station."

"The doctors all said that you were perfectly fine," Mako said, "Nothing wrong except a bout of exhaustion."

"Honestly, I'm not surprised…" Yukari said, "Your power was pretty overwhelming."

"Power?" Makoto asked, "You mean that… thing that I summoned?"

"The technical term is, 'Persona'," the Elizabeth lookalike said, "Oh, but excuse me. I haven't introduced myself, now have I? I am Elizabeth. Though I believe we've already met."

Okay, now things were getting strange again. This girl was almost certainly the Elizabeth he saw in the Velvet Room, which meant that it was probably more than just a dream. Now the question was this: Why is Elizabeth here in the first place? Makoto decided to dock that question in favor of not rambling about a recurring dream to people who probably wouldn't take him seriously.

"Nice to meet you again," he responded, "How are you doing? Last night was pretty rough for all of us."

"I am currently in perfect condition," Elizabeth said before her face suddenly showed a hint of sadness, "Though unfortunately, I cannot say the same for our allies."

"N-no one died!" Mako interjected, "A lot of us just… had to recuperate for a while."

Flashbacks suddenly began playing in Makoto's mind. Mitsuru being burned by a fireball. Sakamoto getting pulled into the dorm unconscious. Akechi getting punched in the face. That cat getting slammed against a wall. His dorm mates retreating in fear. Everything came back to him at once. He shot up, now sitting, and breathing incredibly quickly. The feeling was unfamiliar to him. He couldn't remember the last time he had actually felt as if his own mortality was staring him in his face. And yet here he was, anxious to the point where he almost felt like throwing up.

"A-are you okay?!" Yukari asked, concerned, "You look really bad. Someone call for a nurse!"

Mako got out of her chair and almost ran out of the room.

"It's fine…" Makoto said, slowing down his breathing, "I just need some time to take it all in."

Mako stopped right in front of the door and looked at Makoto. While he was a bit more stable, he was still shaking. Ever since that night ten years ago he hadn't once felt a rush like the one he had last night. He had never experienced fear like that. Experienced catharsis like that. Or experienced pleasure like that. The moment he pulled the trigger on the gun-like object, he had been exposed to a sensation of unmitigated contentedness that he had never once felt to such a degree. But with it came fear. Fear of injury, fear of death, fear of what might happen to others. It wasn't that he had never felt these things before, it was simply that they had never been so pronounced and extreme.

"Don't push yourself," Elizabeth chided, "We're certainly not afraid to help you if need be."

"Really," Makoto said, "I'm fine."

"Well," Mako said, "Even if you feel fine, you should probably take it easy for a bit. You've been out for a long time. Two weeks, actually."

 _That_ made Makoto lie back down. All he could think about now was how much school work he needed to catch up on. This sucked.

"Well," Mako said, "I think I'm gonna go check on the others. That sound good to you?"

"Sure," Yukari said, "Tell them I said hi."

"I think I'll go as well," Elizabeth said, "They do say, after all, that three is a crowd."

With that, Elizabeth walked over to the door, joined Mako, and made her way out alongside her. Makoto and Yukari were now alone. Makoto decided to break the ice first.

"If three's a crowd, then what's four?"

* * *

Tatsumi Memorial Hospital: Room 305

Room 305 of Tatsumi Memorial Hospital had been given to the other injured parties from the raid on the dormitory. Mitsuru, Ryuji, Goro, Mako, and Morgana were all residents during the two-week stay, but currently, only Mitsuru and Ryuji were occupying the room. Mako, Goro, and Morgana's injuries were all light enough that they recovered quickly. Ryuji had to be treated for injuries to his leg and ribs, both of which healed well enough, though his leg needed a bit more time compared to his upper body. He had also heavily worn himself out from his use of Seiten Taisei. Normally, unisex rooms would have been prohibited, but it was figured that such a thing was necessary in order to keep word of the attack on the down-low. At the time, Ryuji was the only one in the room, Mitsuru having gone out to get lunch. Ryuji himself was still confined to a bed, dressed in a hospital gown. He was sitting up, reading a sports magazine that he had probably read fifty times now over the week. Suddenly, the door opened, and Akira, along with the rest of the Thieves, walked in. He was carrying a plastic bag.

"Yo," he said, "You getting bored?"

Ryuji piped up a bit.

"Nah," he lied, "I'm plenty entertained."

"Well just in case," Akira said, "We got you a gift. To celebrate your release."

He fished his bad for a something, and quickly pulled out an old issue of a weekly Shounen magazine.

"I know that it's all stuff you may have read before," Akira said, "But it's better than just reading the same old sports mag over and over, right?

"Heh…" Ryuji conceded, "You know me all too well…"

"Leader," Morgana, who was currently in Akira's new bag, said, "We shouldn't beat around the bush. We need to talk for real now that Kirijo-san's finally out of the room."

"Yeah," Akira said, handing the magazine to Ryuji, "We'll do this quickly. Everyone grab a seat."

The room thankfully had enough stools to sustain most of the group, though some still had to stand. Now they were ready to talk.

"Alright," Akira began, "Let's talk about this, 'Masked Circle.'"

* * *

[Cue OP]

* * *

 **Chapter VIII:** **Wake**

With the discussion started, the room's atmosphere suddenly darkened.

"To start off," Akira said, "We need to recap what we know so far, and what we covered in our meeting with SEES."

Two days after the attack, SEES had held a small discussion in the hospital room. At the time, there was little to talk about, as the only information that could be discerned was the codenames of the operatives, and that they were all Persona users. For their future endeavours, they had resolved to suspend their actions for a week in order for the group to recuperate. With that out of the way, there had been one thing to discuss. What was the group's course of action going to be from here on out? The Investigation Team had maintained that exploring Tartarus, while uncertain, should be the focus, as it provided the group not only with a good amount of training, but also was the biggest lead they currently had on resolving the Dark Hour problem. On the other hand, the Phantom Thieves had maintained that they needed to find more information about the Masked Circle and deal with them as efficiently as possible. Ultimately, Mitsuru and Akihiko, being the senior members of the group, had decided that while focus would primarily be given to Tartarus, that trying to find as much information about the Masked Circle as possible was going to be a secondary objective.

"We didn't have much info to go off of," Ann began, "But we know that they're Persona users who don't need Evokers, that they're aiming to kill us, and that they seem to have some sort of agenda regarding SEES.

"The problem," Akira said, "Is that as far as we know, they're just a bunch of insane cultists."

"I don't think there's much to discuss in the way of motive," Yusuke said, "But I'm certainly concerned about putting them to the side."

"Have you found out anything else about them since our last meeting?" Ryuji said, "We didn't really have much to talk about back then anyways."

"Sort of," Akira said, "We've tried looking around and getting information, but we've only heard one thing."

"And what would that be?" Ryuji asked.

"We did some research on the internet," Futaba said, "And we've found an interesting rumor from years back."

"In Sumaru City," Haru said, "There was a rumor back in 1999 about a person called, 'JOKER.' It was said that dialing one's own phone number would summon this being to kill a person of your choosing."

"So," Ryuji said, "He's contract killer?"

"It would suggest that they were hired to kill us," Makoto (Nijima) said, "But their language didn't seem to imply that anyone had hired them."

"I think we've held off on this long enough," Akira said, "One Ryuji's fully recovered, we're going to resume our activities in full force. If this Fake Joker has surfaced once more, then we need to take initiative on our own terms."

"Fake?" Yusuke asked, "Why are you saying 'fake'?

"Because," Akira said, a smirk appearing on his face, "There's only room for one Joker here as far as I'm concerned, and it sure as hell won't be that one."

The gathered Thieves couldn't help but match the smirk as well. Yeah, there was only gonna be one Joker, and it was their leader.

"Alright then," Makoto said, "So, we should make plans to head into Mementos soon?"

"Right," Akira said.

Just then, there was a knock on the door.

"Come in," Ryuji shouted.

The door was then opened by Narukami, who had the Investigation Team, as well as Goro, Sho, Mako, and Elizabeth, in tow. Adachi was absent, having to work as a janitor at Gekkoukan.

"You guys always get to these meetings early," he commented, walking over, "It looks like there aren't any more seats."

"Sorry," Akira said smugly, "But we like sitting, so you're just gonna have to deal with it."

"Fair enough," Narukami conceded with a light shrug. He'd learned by now that Akira's group was rather...quirky, "So what did you want to talk about?"

"First off," Akira started, "We came across some information you might be interested in."

The Thieves relayed the details of the JOKER rumor to their allies, who, while intrigued, were a bit aprehensive.

"So," Yosuke said, "Do you really think this JOKER rumor has anything to do with the Masked Circle?"

"We're aware that 'Joker,' is a common alias," Yusuke said, "But we thought it was worth looking into."

"I know that you're very adamant about finding out more about them," Naoto said, "But remember, the Kirijo Group has been on the lookout for this group for a while now, and they're no closer to finding them."

"So, you're saying we should give up?" Ryuji said, confrontationally.

"I don't think that's it…" Yukiko said, "It's more that… We just think that we shouldn't jump to conclusions about them."

"Better to have the info and not need it, than need it and not have it," Ann said, "It's not like we have anything better to do at this time."

"Look," Narukami said, "I'm aware that our priorities are slightly different, but we can't afford to bicker now. We've already fought enough about this, we can't afford to compromise this mission."

"I agree," Akira said, "But you have to understand that as well. Remember Labrys?"

The group went silent for a moment as they recollected their own argument over the matter about a week ago.

* * *

April 12, 2009

12:00

Iwatodai Dormitory Lobby

That day, SEES had been called to a meeting at the dormitory around noon. They had been told that it concerned Labrys' nature as a machine, and that attendance was absolutely mandatory. The day was a Sunday, so there was little concern over timing, but regardless, there was little else to do. The damage to the dormitory hadn't disappeared the day after the attack, and police were looking into what they officially classified as a "vandalization," of the building. The group wasn't exactly keen on going outside to be hounded by any tabloids looking to make it seem like they were the ones responsible, so they were all staying inside. As the hour approached and the group gradually gathered into the lobby, there was a palpable silence. It was uncomfortable knowing that they were soon to be faced with the prospect of having to explain why a long-lost Anti-Shadow Weapon had somehow made its way into attending high school. It was more uncomfortable that they had to share the room with Akihiko and Yukari, who knew nothing about Labrys. And it was even more uncomfortable when Ikutsuki had finally walked through the front door.

"Good morning," he said, far too happy for the situation at hand, "I hope you're all doing well."

"With all due respect, sir," Akira said, sitting on the couch, with Narukami and Labrys at his side, "I don't think the situation we're in calls for us to be in a good mood."

"I suppose not," Ikutsuki conceded, "But we should keep our chins up regardless." He walked over to the open chair opposite next to the couch and sat down. "Now," he continued, now looking at Labrys, "I have to ask a few questions of you Labrys, is that alright?"

"Uh, sure," she said, "No problem at all."

In reality, Labrys was terrified. She knew that any wrong answer given would inevitably mean disaster for her. Even if she wasn't able to join the others at school, she at least hoped that she would be able to avoid being sent back to the Kirijo Group's laboratory.

"First of all," Ikutsuki began, "I want to know where exactly you've been. It's been approximately ten years since you went missing, and we've never been able to track you down. What have you been doing up until now."

"After I escaped your laboratory," she replied, "I managed to make my way across the ocean, and found my way to an old childless couple, who adopted me."

The lie was certainly a cliched one, but regardless, the group had very little choice in having Labrys relay it. They had gone over many of the pictures that Labrys had kept on her phone, and come up with a story based on those, and there was little else by way of detail that they could conceive before the meeting. Akira had given Labrys some tips on lying, specifically telling her that she needed to maintain regular eye contact, keep her voice level, and make sure that she hesitated as little as possible. Though he knew that that sort of thing was just the basics, and that the rest was just up to Labrys' natural talent. He was a bit concerned when he heard just how forced her response was.

"They barely ever really questioned the fact that I was a machine," Labrys said, "They just treated me like any other girl who needed help."

"I see," Ikutsuki said, "And why, pray tell, are you currently attending Gekkoukan High School?"

There was another big question. Labrys had to give a good answer this time, otherwise the situation might go south.

"Well…" she answered, "I can't really explain it well, but I just… wanted to go. After about ten years of just hiding and not doin' anything around town, I thought I should get out a bit more."

"Were you not worried about being discovered?" Ikutsuki said.

"I mean, of course I was," Labrys said, "But I just couldn't stand just hiding all the time…" She continued, "I just wanted to know what it was like...to be out there like I was a normal girl…"

Alright, now she was getting more convincing. Though, Akira chalked that up to her story being partially true, even if he didn't know the precise details.

"Yes," Ikutsuki conceded, "That must have been quite difficult for you to endure for so long."

It seemed like he was buying it. They were almost out of the woods.

"One more question," Ikutsuki said, "Why are you so close to this large group of students that recently joined us? Judging by what you've said about your home life, I assume that you haven't known them for very long."

This question seemed like something of a curveball, but thankfully, the group had prepared for it.

"I just ran into them on my way into town," Labrys responded, "They'd all grouped together 'cause of the Dark Hour, and I did the same."

"And did they know about your true nature?" Ikutsuki said.

Normally, it would be best to have played the fool and denied that they knew, but Akira had told Labrys to take a different approach.

"To be honest," she said, "Yeah. We ran into a bunch of Shadows on that first night, and I was pretty much the only one who could fight back at the time."

"Wait," Akihiko interrupted, now addressing the whole group. "And you guys just accepted it?"

"To be honest," Labrys said, "I was kind of surprised that they had come to terms with it so quickly, especially since they didn't know me at all before."

"If I'm being honest," Futaba piped in, "We were fine with it because… she never really seemed like a robot. She was just as concerned about the whole situation as we were."

"She almost broke down crying when it happened," Makoto (Nijima) said, "We couldn't just treat her like she wasn't human."

"Yes, yes," Ikutsuki said...a little too dismissively, something the group noticed instantly, "I doubt that most people would be able to fear anyone acting like that. In fact, I'm surprised at just how emotive she is at all."

Suddenly, someone came in through the front door, a police officer in a dark uniform.

"I hope I'm not interrupting anything," he said.

"Oh not at all, Officer Kurosawa," Ikutsuki said, "In fact, we just finished talking."

The group recognized this man. Kurosawa was the one who had providing SEES with their weaponry, and the group had been quite surprised at just how large his selection was. The Thieves were almost jealous that SEES had been able to completely circumvent the whole, "illegally purchasing weapons," part of their operations. Even so, Ikutsuki's dismissal seemed a bit sudden. Kurosawa just walked in and all of a sudden the conversation was over?

"Anyway," Kurosawa continued, "I just came to inform you that the Kirijo group contacted me about your order. It will be coming in two days from now."

"Ah, yes," Ikutsuki said, "Thank you for that."

"I assume that the rest of you are doing well?" Kurosawa said.

"We're doing fine," Akihiko answered, "Aside from being attacked by a crazy mob."

"We're looking into them as we speak," Kurosawa said, "But we haven't managed to find anything of substance."

"I have confidence that you'll be able to find them," Ikutsuki said, "They can't have just disappeared with no trail."

"Regardless," Kurosawa said, "I'll have to get back to my post now."

"Thank you for your time Officer," Ikutsuki said, "Until next time."

With a nod, Kurosawa exited the dorm, going back to his station in Paulownia Mall.

"Ah yes," Ikutsuki said, "I'd say an explanation is in order. Now, while I hate to 'police,' you after hearing such a heartfelt story, Labrys, there's a formality we must go through before we can permit you to resume your daily life."

This was getting strange. And not just because of Ikutsuki's abrupt pun.

"Whaddaya mean?" Labrys said.

"In order for us to be sure that it's safe for you to act unsupervised," Ikutsuki said, "You will be required to undergo a memory evaluation."

Now this was getting bad. The entire group knew damn well that Labrys had no memories of her life in this world whatsoever. The situation had just taken a dire turn. They were supposed to keep people from this time from finding out about their nature as time travellers. What were they going to do?

"We'll be conducting the test in two days," Ikutsuki resumed, "We're currently transporting a maintenance case to the dorm in order to, well, perform maintenance and conduct the test. I hope this won't be too much trouble."

If Labrys could sweat, she figured that she would probably be doing so quite a lot at the moment. But she still needed to keep up the facade.

"N-not at all," she said, "I'm fine with that."

"Okay," Ikutsuki said, far too happy for the time-travelers' comfort, "Then that covers everything! See you in two days!"

And just like that, Ikutsuki got up and made for the door, before stopping.

"Oh, and by the way," he said, "The rest of the Evokers should also be arriving around then, so look forward to that."

He continued out the door, leaving the group in a silent panic.

"If you need me," Akihiko suddenly said, getting up, "I'm going to my room."

"Me too," Yukari said, also getting up, "It's been a weird day."

He made his way up the stairs, and the time-travelers were left on their own.

"So," Akira said, finally speaking, "What now?"

"What do you mean, 'what now?'" Hanamura said, "We have to stop this!"

"Yosuke's right!" Satonaka agreed, "We can't just let them dig around in Labrys' head!"

"Hold on and think about this for a second," Akira said, "All trying to stop it will do is make Ikutsuki suspicious of us, and we already know that we can't trust him."

"But what will happen if we do nothing?" Narukami pointed out, "How will he interpret the information from the future? What will he do with it? Like you said, we can't trust him."

"Chances are he'll just have his memory wiped," Akira countered, "And the same'll probably be true for anyone else from this time."

"Then that just brings up the question of what happens after the memory wipe," Naoto said, "Will the continuously forget the information and try to observe it again in an infinite loop? Should we take that risk?"

"Elizabeth," Haru said, "What will happen if Ikutsuki or the rest of SEES observes Labrys' memories?"

"Technically speaking," Elizabeth explained, "The rules are that those from this time period do not learn the nature of your existences here. Observing Labrys' memories would not reveal the future, as those involved are not being explicitly told of it. As such, if they were to learn of the future via Miss Labrys' memory bank…"

"It would be a loophole," Naoto frowned.

"So…" Satonaka said, "It's fine if we leave them be?"

"Absolutely not," Narukami said, "Mitsuru and SEES I'm not worried about, but Ikutsuki's a different story."

"You've got a point…" Akira conceded, "Especially considering that you all have history with Labrys."

"So," Yosuke said, "Now you're on our side?"

"No," Akira said, "I'm just acknowledging a roadblock. If we try too hard to divert attention from Labrys, we'll just end up looking suspicious".

"More suspicious than Labrys having memories of us, SEES, and being teleported into the past?" Yosuke pointed out.

"Keep calm," Akira said, "I've got a plan. Futaba is an expert when it comes to hacking and machinery. Chances are she'll be able to tamper with Labrys enough that we can get by without suspicion."

"What?!" Teddie yelled, "You can't just go digging around in her head all willy-nilly!"

"Ted's right," Kanji said, "Can we really rely on that?"

"I suppose you have a better plan?" Yusuke asked.

"Well…" Kanji said, at a loss for words.

"It would be preferable if we could just refuse the offer," Goro said, "And I would want it as well. But as it stands, trying to do may simply incur unnecessary risk with little potential reward."

"But isn't trying to hack into Labrys also a risk?" Amagi countered.

"Maybe," Akira said, "But I'd rather the risk lie in the hands of a friend than in the decision of a stranger."

There was silence for a moment as the group pondered.

"You're sure we can trust Sakura-san, right?" Narukami asked after a moment.

"Nothing's certain," Akira said, "But you're better off trusting her than Ikutsuki to get us through this."

"Fine," Narukami said, "We'll do it your way."

"Then let's get to work," Akira said, stretching out his hand for a shake.

Narukami took it.

* * *

Futaba spent the entirety of the following day looking through Labrys' code. Along with the necessities packed in her bag, she had been provided with a computer and assorted equipment she could use for hacking. Currently, she was in her room, using it on Labrys. Makoto was placed by the door, looking out for any of the original SEES members or any other intruding police officers. Thankfully, it didn't take Futaba very long to gain access to the basic inner mechanisms of how Labrys operated. For as advanced as she was, Labrys was still a relatively old piece of machinery. The problem was understanding how she operated. Since Labrys was technically sentient like a human, trying to access her memory banks required a lot of trial and error. She was currently sitting on her bed, at 4:00 PM, with Akira and Labrys by her sides. She was currently going through the memory database which she had only just gained access to.

"So," he said, "Any ideas?"

"Nothing yet," Futaba said, "I guess being a robot has its perks. She's got a totally perfect moment-to-moment memory."

"Is it possible to save and overwrite them?" Akira suggested.

"Maybe if I had more time," Futaba said, "But as it is, the code is so complicated that I don't have space to save it onto my computer. I can't overwrite anything right now without permanently getting rid of it."

"Is there anything we can do?" Akira pleaded.

"Aside from just deleting everything," Futaba said, "I guess I can move them around within her. But I would need to make a whole other memory bank. And I don't have time for that."

"Well…" Labrys said, "There is one thing I think could work…"

"Huh?" Futaba asked, "Why didn't you mention this sooner?"

"Because…" Labrys paused for a few seconds, "Because it might make things worse for me."

"Well then why would you bring it up?" Akira asked, "Even if we're going through with this scan it doesn't mean we think you're expendable."

"No," Labrys said, "It's better if I take attention from you guys before things get out of hand."

"If you say so," Akira conceded, "So what's your idea?"

"I-" Labrys tried to get her words out, "I do have an alternate memory bank. But the memories that are already there… might still make things complicated. If you move some of the events into that bank, we might be able to get through the scan by scrambling the memories and making it look like a glitch."

Futaba backed out and searched around Labrys' database before finding the alternate memory bank. Looking around, it certainly had fewer memories than her normal memory bank.

"Hmm…" Akira said, "This alternate memory bank could be useful, but the big problem is still the lack of memories about your family in this world. And I'm too concerned about the effect that trying to scramble your memories would have on you to try that out."

"I could add in the pictures on her phone to her memory bank," Futaba said, "But they're not a complete version of those events."

"I think we're going to have to go for broke," Akira said, "We're just going to have to fill in the memories ourselves."

"What?" Labrys asked, appropriately confused.

* * *

Akira's strategy was very, very risky. He had basically instructed Labrys to go into sleep mode so that she wouldn't be taking in any new information, and then told Futaba to move memories from Labrys' primary bank to her second one, then end the programing session. They had then taken the images from Labrys' phone and uploaded them into her memory. The memories they had left in her primary bank were the images of her and her family, her time with the group in the Dark Hour, small talk she had made with the group, her lying to Ikutsuki, and her normal routine sans any incriminating details, as well as her memories of being in the laboratory. When all was said and done, Futaba closed down the hacking program, ready to wake up the robot.

"Labrys," Akira said, reaching over and lightly tapping her face "Rise and shine."

Labrys' eyes fluttered open, and she looked over at the two Thieves.

"Uh, good morning?" she said, "What's goin' on?"

"Oh, nothing," Akira said, "You just had a bit of a fainting spell just now."

"Oh right…" Labrys replied, "I guess we were… what were we doin'?"

"We were undergoing a memory check," Futaba said, "Kirijo-san asked us to perform it for the group early, but we're having a bit of trouble."

Labrys paused for a moment. She contemplated for a while before she spoke again.

"Oh yeah," she said, "We were goin' to do that tomorrow weren't we?"

"Yes," Akira fibbed, "But there were complications in the delivery of the case, and the job was given to me and Futaba. But we need to address something first."

"What?" Labrys inquired.

"You see," Akira said, "There are a couple gaps in your memory, specifically involving your family and how you came to Tatsumi Port Island. Can you try to clear those things up for us?"

Labrys had a mask of surprise on her face, which was quickly replaced by contemplation.

"We'll leave you alone for a bit," Akira said, getting up and walking to the door with Futaba, "We'll be back in a couple hours. Don't leave the room."

He opened the door, and stepped out alongside the hacker.

* * *

April 14, 2009

12:00 PM

Iwatodai Dormitory: Labrys' Room

On the next day, Labrys had been woken up early at 9:00 AM. She had been scooted out of her room in order to make space for the renovations that the maintenance case would require. That day, the rest of the time travellers had remained in their rooms so as to avoid contact with her. The renovations had taken a surprisingly short amount of time, about three hours, and soon Labrys, who was waiting in the lobby, reading a magazine, was greeted by a man coming in through the front door.

"Good morning Labrys," Ikutsuki said, "I trust you're doing well?"

"Oh, Ikutsuki-san," Labrys said, "I'm doin' fine."

"Good to hear," Ikutsuki said, "Are you prepared for today's examination?"

"Absolutely," Labrys said.

"Well," Iktusuki said, "The renovations to your room should be finishing soon. Do you need a bit of time to prepare, or do you want to get going?

"I say we get it over with," Labrys said, putting down the magazine and getting up.

"That's the spirit!" Ikutsuki said with a smile, "Now let's get to work!"

With that, the two walked up to Labrys' room, which was basically the same as a standard room sans the case that now replaced the bed.

"So," Ikutsuki said, "I'll just need you to sit down inside the case."

Labrys walked over and did so without a word.

"Good," Ikutsuki said, "Now you'll be going into sleep mode for a moment or two, but the process won't take more than half an hour."

"'Kay," Labrys said.

With that, the case closed, and the process began. Labrys had been plugged into the case's system, and Ikutsuki was operating a terminal on the case's exterior. Accessing her memory bank, he began a quick skimming of the database. Looking around there was very little out of place, and Labrys did indeed seem to have memories of time spent with a family in a relatively rural area. Pretty much everything checked out. But some of the memories themselves were… oddly incomplete. It was kind of strange how some memories just kind of lost their detail as Ikutsuki examined them in depth. However, he chalked this up to being a result of Labrys' humanization. And she did have the memories of the test that had made her go rogue. After about twenty minutes, there seemed to be very little out of place, and Ikutsuki finished the examination. But before he finished up, he decided to examine Labrys' operating system for a moment.

"You can never be too careful…" he said.

* * *

Present Day

Tatsumi Memorial Hospital: Room 305

With the test done, Labrys was deemed perfectly safe and had been allowed to continue independent operations. As he left the building, Akira and Futaba, who had been sitting in the lobby, took notice and went to Labrys' room. They put her into sleep mode and began work on reconstructing her memories to their normal state. Their plan on the previous day had been to remove any incriminating memories from Labrys and move them into her secondary memory bank, cease the hacking process, leave Labrys alone in order to fill in the gaps in her own memory, and then resume the process to erase any memories of their tampering. While Ikutsuki had noticed significant gaps in Labrys' memories, it seemed that the plan had otherwise worked, as they had received messages from Ikutsuki telling them that Labrys had been deemed safe. Labrys herself had given them permission to do all of this, even if it meant going against the will of her own memory-altered self. The process went by quickly, and by the time they were done, Labrys was her old self again. The Investigation Team, while impressed, had been a bit put-off by how risky the plan actually was. While the argument itself wasn't very emotional or heated, Akira remembered just how skeptical the group had looked when he had told him about what Futaba had done. The tension had persisted throughout the following week, and casual communication between the group had all but stopped. The tense looks that Akira remembered were now coming back to their faces as he reminded them of what had happened.

"I understand why you think that withholding Labrys would have compromised the mission," Narukami responded, "But regardless of the outcome, I still think it was a risky move. If he found the other memory bank then we'd all be in danger."

"But he didn't," Akira said, "So here we are."

"How do we even know that he isn't just lying?" Yosuke proposed, "For all we know he's already got our number."

"Because Futaba set up a password for that memory bank that only she and Labrys know" Akira said, "While I guess there is a chance he could have accessed in anyway, I don't see that as a significant possibility. Right now, we're out of the woods."

"Did you check any of the other files in her memory?" Naoto asked, "Ikutsuki could have potentially altered them as well."

That got Akira to hesitate a bit.

"I'd like to say no," he said, "But it was hard enough for Futaba to work just with the code pertaining to Labrys' memories. We didn't have time to look over much else."

"And you can still look at us and say that you have no concerns about this?" Yukiko pushed.

"I can't say that I'm without pause," Akira admitted, "But out of all the outcomes I envisioned, this looks pretty good compared to the alternatives. If it makes you feel any better, Futaba can keep trying to look at Labrys and understand if anything's wrong with her over time. That sound good?"

There was another audible silence.

"Very well," Narukami said, "We'll keep trusting you. I don't want to get hung up on this. If we want to accomplish our mission, we need to be able to trust one another."

Reluctantly, the Investigation Team conceded, and the discussion was shelved.

"Putting that to the side," Ryuji said, "I wanna ask; do you think we may have already succeeded in our mission already?"

"Huh?" the rest of the group looked at in confusion.

"I mean, think about it," he continued, "Do you think that Yuki-san would've survived that assault from those masked assholes if we weren't there?"

Ryuji had a point. While Kirijo, Sanada, and Takeba surviving was a bit harder to believe now, it wasn't a stretch to think that this may have been the incident that killed Makoto Yuki.

"If we did," Sho said, "Then I'm pretty pissed that it's taking that Igor bastard so long to send me back."

Ignoring how Sho seemed focused solely on his return, the group continued.

"It seems like a plausible theory," Akira said, "But I can't imagine that it would be that simple."

"Simple or not," Adachi said, "I just hope we won't be sticking around here much longer."

"I agree," Goro said, "It would be a nice surprise if we've already succeeded."

"Actually…" Mako said, "I don't think that we have."

"Huh?" Ryuji said, "What do you mean?"

"I agree," Narukami said, "Something about that encounter was odd. I can't really put it into words, it's just that…"

"It felt like it shouldn't have happened," Mako said, "That those men were like us."

Suddenly, everyone's eyes were on Mako.

"What do you mean?" Akira asked, "Are you saying they're also time travellers?

"Yeah…" Mako said, "I'm certain of it."

"Why?" Yusuke asked, "Surely you aren't saying that you know how last night's attack was supposed to go?"

"But… I do," Mako said, "I remember it perfectly now. Ever since the other me woke up… It's all been flooding into my head. Memories of the attack."

The atmosphere in the room was now cold. Frigid. Almost unbearable. This changed everything. Mako's memory of the events of the attack had returned on the exact day that the male Makoto Yuki had woken up. This couldn't have been just a coincidence.

"Can you remember anything beyond that night?" Goro asked, "Are you sure that's the only thing you can recall?"

"There's nothing else," Mako said, "I just remember going to a school for a few days, going to sleep that night, and being attacked by that large Shadow on the roof with Takeba. I summoned Orpheus and it turned into that… monster, and then I blacked out."

"Do you see what I meant now?" Elizabeth said, "When I told you that this female Makoto Yuki was here for your convenience?"

They did, and it was either a huge blessing, or a huge warning sign. On the one hand, they now had a way of determining their progress and how much they had altered the timeline. On the other hand, they now knew that the deck was going to be stacked against them far more than it was for SEES the first time around.

"Perfect," Akira said, his face in his palm. In retrospect though, he really shouldn't have been surprised.

Without warning, the door opened once more, and all attention immediately went to it. Standing there was Mitsuru Kirijo, also in a hospital gown. While it was mostly covered by her sleeve, the burn scar on her left arm was still quite visible on her hand. The group tried not to stare; they had already seen it enough times to know how much it must have hurt. The scar covered most of the back of her hand, with all but the index finger and thumb being visibly charred. While it wasn't exposed, the group knew that the scar itself went all the way up the heiress' arm to her shoulder. Though the burn had been treated very quickly, Mitsuru had been hit by an incredibly advanced fire spell, and the burn itself was easily in the third degree. The initial impact alone had damaged her severely, and the intensity of the fire, however short it burned, did not help. Being a Persona user definitely helped, as it slightly enhanced Mitsuru's ability to naturally heal, but there was still significant permanent damage that she had sustained. She had been instructed to avoid exerting herself too much, but in the long run, the group knew that such a thing wasn't likely. Mitsuru was lucky that she was right-handed.

"I hope I'm not interrupting you," she said.

"Not at all," Akira said, trying to keep down his intense frustration, "In fact, we were just leaving."

"If you say so," Mitsuru said, walking over to her bed, "You all seem to get together quite a lot."

"I suppose," Akira said, now getting up, "You two are getting out today right?"

"Yes," Mitsuru said, now sitting, "And Yuki-san will likely be released today as well."

What were the odds?

"I assume that you plan to recruit him?" Akira asked.

"Yes," Kirijo said, "Alongside the other freshman."

Everyone knew who she was referring to. A couple days ago, while patrolling the Dark Hour with Sanada, the group had come across Junpei Iori, the boy who had been hanging out with Makoto Yuki for the first few days of school. They had protected him and informed him of the nature of the Dark Hour in order to keep him safe and sent him on his way. The Phantom Thieves were a bit skeptical about potentially letting him into SEES, mostly because of his laid-back nature, but it didn't take long for them to remember that their group already had quite a few carefree individuals. With that bit of information, Akira and company no longer had much of a reason to stick around.

"Good to know," Akira said, "Anything else to say before we head off?"

"Only that you should keep up with your studies," Mitsuru said.

"In that case, I'm gone," Akira said, "Later, Ryuji."

"Later, man," Ryuji said, now sticking his nose into the Shounen magazine.

With that out of the way, the group made their way out of the room.

* * *

April 18, 2009

9:06 PM

Iwatodai Dormitory

The rest of the day went by quickly, even with the return of the hospitalized students. Makoto Yuki simply went straight to bed the moment he returned, only being told that he had to attend a meeting with the group tomorrow. Classes the next day flew by as well Makoto got back into the groove, but he still had quite a few concerns going forward. Firstly, he wasn't comfortable staying in a dormitory that was at risk of being attacked by masked men using magic. Second, he didn't know how to feel about the fact that his dorm mates all seemed to also be able to summon weird fighting spirits. And third, this Velvet Room thing was really putting him off, especially with the girl, Elizabeth, apparently trying to get involved in his school life. He tried going through the motions of the day as normal, but he hadn't really been able to focus on going back to normal. He got through the day just fine, but what he really wanted was answers. By the time he got back to the dorm, he was actually sort of relieved that Yukari had told him that Ikutsuki wanted to talk to him. Maybe now he could get some clarification. Making his way up to the room on the fourth floor, he found the entirety of his dorm mates all present in the room. Ikutsuki was sitting in an armchair, Mitsuru, Mako, and Yukari were seated on the couch, and Akihiko and Kurusu were on the cushioned stools.

"Ah, there you are," Ikutsuki said, "I'm glad that you're okay. I wasn't sure what I'd do if anything had happened to you."

Makoto swore that he saw at least three people give Ikutsuki a suspicious look with that comment.

"The reason I asked you here is because I needed to talk to you," Ikutsuki continued, "Please, have a seat."

One of the stools was unoccupied. It seemed that these people were trying to win him over with niceties.

"I'd like to take a moment to do introductions," Ikutsuki insisted, "I know there are a lot of people here, but please bear with me for a moment."

With that, the group began a long series of introductions. Makoto actually cared very little about them compared to what Ikutsuki had likely called him here for. And right after introductions had finished, he realized instantly that he was going to get what he wanted.

"Would you believe me if I said that a day consists of more than 24 hours?" Ikutsuki asked.

"Yes," Makoto said instantly. He wasn't at all skeptical of the idea. He had lived it for years now.

"Well," Kurusu said, "I didn't expect you to respond so casually. Have you been experiencing this phenomena for a long time?"

Kurusu was a sharp one.

"You could say that," Makoto responded.

"Anyway," Akihiko interrupted, "As you've probably figured out, this phenomena happens every night at midnight, and for the most part, people are unaware of its existence."

"They're usually sleeping inside coffins," Mitsuru said, "But if they find themselves outside their coffins, they'll be attacked by those creatures you saw the other night."

"We call them 'Shadows,'" said Narukami, who was standing next to the couch, "And it's our job to defeat them."

"Exciting, right?" Akihiko interjected.

"I wish you'd curb that unhealthy obsession of yours," Mitsuru said, "I can atest that excitement does not equal pleasure."

Suddenly, Akihiko's expression dimmed. He went from a confident smirk to a look of concern. Remembering last night's events, Makoto could still still remember her pained scream in vivid detail. He noticed that Mitsuru herself was actively covering her left hand.

"Moving on," Ikutsuki diverted, "We call our group the Specialized Extracurricular Execution Squad, or SEES. On paper, we're technically a school club, but in reality, our goal is to fight Shadows."

"A Shadow doesn't simply attack people physically," Narukami said, "They prey on their minds. Turning them into living corpses. They're what's responsible for the recent mass onset of Apathy Syndrome."

"How do you fight them, then?" Makoto asked.

"Although rare," Ikutsuki said, "There are those who can function during the Dark Hour. Some may even awaken to a power that enables them to fight the Shadows. That's 'Persona.' The power you used the other night. The Shadows can only be defeated by Persona-users. Which means that it's all up to you to fight them."

"I see," Makoto said, "That's the power I awakened the night of the attack, huh?"

"You're quick to understand," Ikutsuki said, pulling a case out from beside his chair and pushing it towards Makoto.

"Go on," Kurusu said.

Being prompted, Makoto opened the case and found the gun-shaped object from the other night along with a holster and red armband.

"We'd like you to join us," Mitsuru said, "That Evoker there was prepared specifically for you. We could use your strength."

"Not that I'm opposed to the idea," Makoto said, "But you seem to have quite a lot of members already."

"Indeed," Ikutsuki said, "But considering your performance the other night, I think that we would still significantly benefit from having you. Even if we already have twenty-five people at the moment, one could make all the difference."

"Speaking of the other night," continued Makoto, "Who were those people attacking us?"

The group was quiet.

"To be honest," Yukari said, "We're not entirely sure ourselves. They say that they're called the Masked Circle, and that they're led by a man called 'Joker.' But aside from that, we don't know anything about them."

"Dealing with them is a secondary priority," Narukami said, "In the meantime, our focus is on the Shadows and the threat that Apathy Syndrome poses to the general public."

It seemed reasonable to a degree. While the Masked Circle did seem to pose a threat, dealing with the Shadows and Apathy Syndrome was probably more important in the long run.

"Well," Makoto said, "If you really need my help that much, I'll join."

Yukari sighed in relief, " I was afraid you'd say no… Welcome aboard!"

"Thank you so much," Ikutsuki said, "I'm truly glad that you're working with us. Oh, I almost forgot… About your room assignment… Why don't you just stay here, in your current room? I don't know what the holdup is, but I guess it worked out in the end." He let out a chuckle.

"Holdup?" Yukari inquired, "But, wasn't that- Oh, never mind…"

Suddenly, after a sudden cracking sound, a voice rang in Makoto's mind.

"Thou art I… And I art thou… Thou hast established a new bond… Thou shalt be blessed when creating Personas of the Fool Arcana…"

Makoto recalled what Igor had said about the power of Social Links. The intensity of these "Social Links" appeared strengthen the power of the Personas… Were these Social Links supposed to be the bonds you form with people he met…? Makoto was a bit exasperated. He was never the most social of people, but he figured that if it helped him save the world that making a few friends on the side had to have some merit to it. At that time, however, he was still tired from his hospital stay.

"This was all very informative," Makoto said, "But at this point I think I want to get some rest."

"Still tired from your hospital stay?" Akira said, grinning. He was more perceptive than he looked.

"Yeah," Makoto said.

"I suppose that wraps everything up," Ikutsuki said, "Why don't we all turn in now?"

Everyone nodded in agreement, and began to head for their rooms.

* * *

Iwatodai Dormitory: 2nd Floor

Goro Akechi was at the back of the crowd when the members of SEES began to migrate downstairs. He was as tired as the rest of them, and looking forward to a nice, long rest, but it appeared that not everyone was so tired. But as the crowd dissipated into their rooms and he reached the bottom of the stairs to the second floor, he noticed that Akira was leaning on his room's door, looking him right in the eye. His body language basically screamed that there was no way that Goro was going to sleep without a talking to. Cautiously, Goro slowly approached him, worried that he might receive another fist to his face if he made any sudden moves.

"I'm not going to hit you again," Akira snapped, "Move faster."

That prompted Goro to speed up a bit, and he quickly found himself right in front of Akira.

"You really need to work on your poker face," Akira snarked, "I find myself constantly astonished at just how bad you are at hiding what you're actually feeling."

Goro felt a bit insulted by that, but tried to smile in light of it.

"That's a bit mean, Akira-kun," he said, "I'm wondering if you have anything nice to say about me at this point."

"As a matter of fact," Akira said, "I do."

Once again, Goro was caught off guard, his face now a mask of surprise.

"There you go again," Akira scoffed, "An open book. And I assume that you're just going to go back to the goofy smile?"

This time, Goro's face stayed surprised for a moment longer. Akira had him pegged. He was honestly kind of impressed at this point just how good Akira was at reading him.

"You've got me," he confessed, putting his signature smile back on, "I guess I really am just that easy to read."

"About time you noticed," Akira chided, still looking Goro in the eye, "But enough of that. I wanted to tell you that I'm sorry."

Again. Surprise on Goro's face. There seemed to be a pattern here.

"Not even gonna bother…" Akira muttered, "Look, what happened during the attack was my fault, okay? I wasn't used to fighting with my back against the wall. At least… not like that."

"So your point is…?" Goro prodded.

"As much as I hate to say it," Akira caved, "You had a point. Maybe if we brought out the others to fight up close it would have saved us. Even if some of them… didn't make it, it would be better than all of us dying."

Akira now seemed uncomfortable maintaining his eye contact with Goro. His stoic expression now showed a hint of regret. At this point, Goro actually felt kind of sorry for him. His expression became neutral as he responded.

"Don't be sorry," Goro said, "I never wanted anyone to die."

"Of course you didn't," Akira said, regaining his composure and now looking a bit annoyed, "But that's all beside the point. What matters now is that I acted recklessly."

"Well, you apologized," Goro said, smiling again, "And as far as I'm concerned, that's all you needed to do."

"Good," Akira said, "Because this doesn't mean I trust you yet."

"Come on," Goro said pleadingly, "How much will it take to convince you that I don't remember anything before I came here?"

"About as much as it'll take to explain how you knew who Naoto-san was when we all first met," Akira retorted.

That one caught Goro off guard. And not in the way Akira had outlined earlier. Instead of the innocuous surprise that Goro had shown time and time again when Akira had thrown him a curveball, Goro now looked very much like a deer in the headlights. His smile disappeared, he bit his lip, he looked away from Akira's gaze, and it looked like he was about to start sweating.

"I guess what I meant…" Goro began, "Was that I had no memories of… My personal life…?"

"Oh," Akira said in faux-realization, "Please elaborate."

"Alright," Goro said, having regained his composure, "When I say that I have no memories of my personal life, I mean that while I have knowledge about my likes and dislikes and certain things about the world I came from, I don't remember anything that specifically happened to me or why I feel any sort of affinity for those things."

"Hm…" Akira stroked his chin, considering Goro's words, "I suppose I can't really fault you if that's the case…"

"Right?" Goro said, "So are you finally going to trust me?"

"No," Akira said, "For all I know, it's just a convenient excuse. There's still no way for me to determine if you really are telling the truth."

"I guess no answer will satisfy you, will it?" Goro said, exasperated.

"No," Akira said indifferently.

There was a brief moment of silence.

"So…" Goro said, "Is that it?"

"Pretty much," Akira said, now walking to his dorm, "I don't really have time for you if you're not candid."

"I guess that's my signal to go to bed, huh?" Goro said, now moving forward to open said door. But suddenly, Akira stopped and turned around.

"Goro," he said assertively, getting the detective's attention, "I want to say one more thing. And for the love of God, don't make that annoying face again or I'll make sure to sock you even harder than last time."

"Okay…" Goro said, now sweating even more, "What is it?"

"I want to trust you," Akira said without hesitation, "For as much shit as I give you, know that I want to be able to trust you, and that the longer you keep up with this facade, the less likely that is to happen."

The hall went quiet once more, and Goro's face remained neutral. It stayed like this for a good minute before Goro replied with a self-satisfied smile on his face.

"If you say so," he said, walking into his room and shutting the door.

Akira sighed. "Incorrigible bastard…"

He continued into his own room, and flopped down on his bed. Hoping that sleep would alleviate his concerns, and that the next day would bring a positive development.

* * *

Once again, Naoya Toudou was listening in on SEES through the bug he had placed inside the observation room. This time from his hotel room. This had been his routine every night for the past two or so weeks, and while he was thankful that something was finally happening, there was a detail he heard that he just couldn't let pass.

"Twenty-five?"

* * *

April 18, 2009

9:30 PM

Sumaru City: Parabellum Bar

Inside the Parabellum, Kyouji, Rei, Tamaki, and Maya were all holding an impromptu farewell party for Tamaki. The seasoned Devil Summoner was leaving for Tatsumi Port Island on the next morning to meet up with Naoya Todou. The four decided that the best way to send off Tamaki for the next few months was to drink their asses off. Thankfully, Tamaki was being picked up tomorrow by a liaison, rather than driving on her own. They were all currently sitting in the same booth as their first meeting, all dressed in their usual clothing, save for Rei, who was wearing a white suit now.

"Maaan…" Maya said, finishing her second drink, "It feels like we haven't had a free moment at all these last few weeks."

"To be fair," Kyouji said, "It was a lot of trouble trying to get those four to come here."

"Yeah," Tamaki said, "Eikichi and Lisa especially."

"How do you think someone runs both a sushi shop and a band?" Rei asked.

"I don't know," Kyouji said, "How do you think you can pitch a health show with Cantonese lessons to a TV network?"

"Those guys have a lot on their palette…" Maya mused.

"Anyway," Kyouji continued, "Katsuya called me this morning. He says that he was able to get a hold of Kashihara."

"Where is he?" Rei asked.

"Katsuya found that he was attending a posh university somewhere in Tokyo," Kyouji said, "Said he was studying botany or something."

"How many colleges offer majors like that anymore?" Tamaki asked, genuinely curious.

"Like I said. Posh university," Kyouji snarked dismissively.

"And he can just leave that posh university whenever he feels like it?" Rei asked, "I can't imagine that'll reflect well on his academics."

"The Kuzunohas will vouch for him," Kyouji dismissed, "It pays to have friends up top. The university is fine with it so long as he keeps up to date with his work."

"So he'll be meeting with the others in a couple days?" Maya asked.

"Yeah," Kyouji explained, "We'll brief them on the situation and see if they're up to the task. We'll give them the Evokers and have them practice with a designated trainer until January. I've been assigned to Suou's brother."

"I'm taking Silverman," Rei continued.

"So who's going to train Eikichi and Jun?" Maya inquired.

"Madame Ginko has assigned an… old friend to handle Kashihara," Rei said "Let's call him… Sukeroku."

"As for Mishina," Kyouji went on, "He'll be supervised by another of the Kuzunoha's associates. A guy we scouted from Amami City a couple years back. He goes by 'Cage.'"

"Looks like we're set then," Tamaki declared, "Now there's just not much left to do."

"It'll be easy sailing 'till the new year," Kyouji said as he leaned back and lit a cigarette.

Immediately after Kyouji spoke, Tamaki's phone rang. Taking it out of her pocket, she found the call was from Naoya.

"'Scuse me," she said bashfully, "It's Naoya."

The others gave understanding looks as she brought the phone to her ear and accepted the call.

"Hey," Tamaki said, "How're things going?"

"Ugh…" Naoya groaned, "Tell me how you're doing first."

"You sound a bit down," Tamaki observed, "Well don't worry! We managed to get ahold of every one of the Persona-users from Sumaru City! Everything's going as planned, and I should be leaving tomorrow."

"That all?" Naoya said.

"Yep!" Tamaki chirped with a massive grin on her face.

"Well I'm sorry to have to say this," Naoya said, "But things on my end have gotten complicated."

"How so?" Tamaki inquired.

"I was just listening in on a conversation that SEES was having," he explained, "Sakamoto, Kirijo, and Yuki have healed up, and Yuki will be joining the group."

"That sounds like great news though," Tamaki said, "What's the issue?"

"I wouldn't say it's a detrimental problem," Naoya answered, "But one thing they said stuck out to me. They have twenty-five members. Not counting Yuki or Ikutsuki."

"Huh?" Tamaki said, a bit lost, "What's the big deal then?"

"When I've observed the group before I've never felt the need to do a headcount," Naoya elaborated, "But I just did the math. Kirijo, Sanada, and Takeba are our constants here, so that means that twenty-two people who I was tasked with observing showed up in the dorms two weeks ago and joined SEES."

"Your point?" Tamaki asked, wishing her friend would stop being obtuse. But at the same time, she almost wished that she didn't have to hear what he had to say. Looking at Kyouji and Rei, she saw that they both had concerned expressions on their faces. Tamaki herself was now looking concerned as well. And then, her answer came.

"There were supposed to be twenty-three," Naoya finished.

She was right. She didn't want to hear that.

* * *

[Cue ED]

* * *

Look guys, I just wanna quickly apologize for taking so long, so I'll just complain a bit here. Life sucks. Being an adult sucks, but that's no excuse for me neglecting this work. I don't wanna disappoint you guys, so don't worry, I won't go anywhere.

Anyway, a couple things first. **One major thing** is that after I've finished Chapter Nine, which I'm really looking forward to starting, I will be implementing some big rewrites to previous chapters in light of new canon information. There were a few changes I implemented this morning, but they weren't too big. Bragging rights go to whoever finds out what I changed.

Onto the brighter side, ENGLISH DUB. I gotta say, for the cast I had picked out, which IMO was pretty perfect, I think what we got was just as, if not a bit more, perfect. Xander Mobus has proven to be fantastic as our Protag, Max's Ryuji is phenomenal, Erika as Ann is great as well, Cassandra is a bit more feminine but still does a great Morgana, Matt is a perfect Yusuke (and thankfully I can keep the Jojoke from chapter 2 the same as well), and while Cherami Leigh seemed like a weird choice for Makoto at first, she's really won me over. We haven't heard Xanthe and Erica yet, but if after listening to sillyfudgemonkey's videos, I have high hopes. All in all, this looks like it'll be a superb dub, even if I'm still a bit pissed about the delay. In case you were wondering, here was my cast wishlist.

Akira: Max Mittelman  
Ryuji: Ben Diskin  
Anne: Christina Vee  
Yusuke: Ray Chase  
Makoto: Lauren Landa  
Futaba: Sarah Ann Williams  
Haru: Carrie Keranen  
Morgana: Cassandra Lee Morris  
Goro: Max Mittelman

I gave Goro and Akira the same voice because _Persona 3_ and _4_ had the same sort of thing going on with Makoto and Ryoji both being Yuri Lowenthal and Yu and Adachi both being good ol' JYB.

Welp, I've postured enough. Hope you enjoyed this chapter.


	10. Omake: Voices of Reason

Just a stupid thing I wanted to do that I forgot to include at the end of Chapter 8. Enjoy.

* * *

Iwatodai Dormitory

A few minutes before Makoto Yuki joins SEES

In retrospect, grouping up all at once while waiting for Makoto Yuki to show up to the meeting was kind of a bad idea. With so many people in the room, barely anyone knew how to initiate a conversation. Akira Kurusu was among the most annoyed at that moment, but not for the reasons one might expect.

"Akira?" Ryuji asked from across the room, "You okay, man?"

"What?" Akira mumbled, "Yeah I'm fine. I just need a minute to myself…"

"Why?" Anne, who was next to Ryuji pushed, "What's up?"

"It's just…" Akira said, clearly troubled, "Haven't you noticed it?"

"Huh?" the two Thieves responded.

"Yuki and Hanamura," Akira continued, "And how they sound exactly the same."

Everyone looked at Akira like he had just told them that he was a dolphin.

"For real?" Tatsumi asked, also across the room, "I know Yosuke-senpai's voice pretty damn well. And Yuki sounds nothing like him."

"Agreed," Yusuke said, standing next to Kanji, "I can't for the life of me tell where you got such an idea."

Akira's gaze shifted to the two. He was clearly irate.

"You fuckin' serious?"

The two were taken aback. They had no idea what he was talking about.

"Come on," Akira said, now looking a bit angry, "Have you two not noticed that you have the exact same voice?"

"Look, Kurusu-san," now Narukami was getting involved, "You should probably calm down. You must be really tired."

"Yyyyyep," Adachi said, "I think he's just hearin' things. He needs sleep."

Akira's face was transitioning from anger to disbelief.

"Seriously…" he groaned, now looking around the room, "You're telling me that none of you see the irony here?"

"You really should go to bed early," Mitsuru said, "You seem very confrontational tonight."

"Ineed," Elizabeth agreed, "Your head will be clear in the morning."

"This seriously isn't funny guys," Akira said, "There is no goddamn way you haven't noticed how similar you all sound."

"Look," Rise said, a bit annoyed herself, "If you're just gonna be on-edge all night, then you should just leave."

"Sorry to say," Mako followed up, "But I agree."

Akira looked across the room one last time, still irate. Everyone was still looking at him like he should be locked up in the loony bin. He decided that it was probably best to shelve this discussion and never bring it up again. It wasn't that big a deal just how similar these people all sounded, was it?

"You know what?" he said, "Never mind. Forget I said anything."

"Now that that's done," Ikutsuki said out of the blue, "I think I heard our guest walk up the stairs just now."

Wait. Did Ikutsuki always sound like Igor?

* * *

Thanks for reading this stupid little piece. Please review if possible, as it's always nice to hear what you guys have to say, even if it's about how much I suck.


	11. Chapter 9: Days Gone By

What up? It's your boy Diego!

Now, before we start off, I want to apologize once more for long waiting times due to my laziness and excessive gaming. Christmas was crazy and so ws college, But I also want to make one thing known, and that's this.

 **IMPORTANT, PLEASE READ** : _**Your reviews are important**_. Not only do they keep my spirits up, but they also inspire me to keep working more regularly. I'm not saying that I need them to keep going, just that I do really, **really** want them. As much as possible, and as detailed as possible. Even if you don't have an account, they're very much appreciated.

Anyway, let's get started.

* * *

April 19, 2009

10:58 AM

Hotel Pleiades: Entrance

Getting out of bed wasn't an easy task for Tamaki Uchida after a long night of drinking. Naoya's news wasn't exactly reassuring, as they now knew that they had let one of the kids they had been tasked with observing go AWOL, and they didn't really have any way of knowing which one it was. Naoya had only bugged the dorm, and he had to use Personas to do it. Installing cameras was a whole other deal. After hearing of her plight, Maya called up an old friend of hers that she called Baofu to see if he had any experience with cameras, but all he knew about was wire tapping. As such, the mood was ruined, and the group was left drinking to forget. Waking up in the morning with a massive hangover and in a state of great undress however, was not the way Tamaki wanted to start off on the morning where she was being transported to Tatsumi Port Island at 11:00. She had woken up at 10:48, and rushed to shower, brush her hair, brush her teeth, get dressed and finish her packing before just barely making it outside with her bag in tow. There, she found Kyouji, Rei, Maya, and Katsuya observing the cars that came and went as the concierge assisted with their parking.

"Hey!" she said with a high wave, causing the group to turn around.

"Hey, Tamaki," Maya said, "Hope you had a good rest last night."

"Well," Tamaki said awkwardly as she approached her friends, "I slept about as well as I could, all things considered."

"I don't blame you," Rei said, "But it does make it difficult to do a lot of goodbyes before your ride comes."

"To be honest," Kyouji admitted, "I'd be fine with the ride getting here a bit late anyway."

"Why?" Tamaki said, "Don't tell me that you're falling for me?"

Kyouji was dumbstruck.

"No, no, no," he denied, "It's just… You know that they're not just coming to pick you up, right?"

"How do you mean?" Katsuya asked.

"You know those guys he mentioned last night?" Rei said, "'Cage,' and Sukeroku?"

"News to me," Katsuya said.

"Well that's because you weren't at the bar last night," Maya said.

"Well, anyway-"

Kyouji was about to explain before they all heard a loud screeching noise. A motorcycle had screeched to a halt right by the group, totally unannounced. The rider kicked down the kickstand and got off the bike. He was a moderately tall man, dressed in a red cycling jacket, a black X design embroidering the front, and a black motorcycle helmet. Slowly, he began to remove said helmet.

Maya was now panicking. It was too soon. He shouldn't be here. There was a reason that she hadn't seen him for years now. But here he was. Looking the same as he always did. One would think after ten years that a person would grow out of their old clothes. Not Tatsuya Suou apparently.

Finally, the helmet came off, and the face Maya wished that she wouldn't see was there.

"So this is where you've been going recently, brother," Tatsuya said, "I was getting worried."

Kyouji irately looked at Katsuya.

"I thought you had explained what was going on, Suou," he said, "What gives?"

Katsuya looked at the other detective and tried to reason with him.

"I had to ease him into it," Katsuya claimed, "You know as well as I do that this is needs to be handled much more delicately when it comes to my brother."

"I would prefer it if you didn't talk like I wasn't here," Tatsuya said, "I'd like an explanation-"

Ironically enough, Tatsuya was also interrupted by a vehicle pulling up with familiar occupants. This time, it was a limo, and one of the people exiting it was a man who looked startlingly like Kyouji, except for his purple suit, purple headband, and kabuki makeup. It was pretty clear that this man was Sukeroku, as he seemed to be as intent as possible on making himself look like the famous character from the kabuki plays. Two more people emerged, a man in a suit jacket, with short brown hair and purple shades, and a girl with long brown hair also dressed in a suit. They were followed by a young caucasian woman with blonde hair, a man with dyed hair in visual kei makeup, and a man with flowing black hair covering his right eye. The rest of the group noticed that Kyouji and Rei were markedly more serious, and were staring at the man who seemed to be Sukeroku.

"I hope we weren't late," Sukeroku said, even his voice sounding remarkably like Kyouji's.

"Not at all," Kyouji said, "You're right on time. In fact, some of you got here earlier than expected."

"Glad to hear it," the white-faced man said in a chipper tone, "How have you been doing recently, old friend?"

"Oh I've been doing fine," Kyouji said, "I've been fighting demons, solving crimes, dealing with the fact that my family and friends have had to put up with me being goddamn dead for the past fourteen or so years. The usual. How've you been doing? You finally settled on a body instead of just freeloading? I remember that one from Amami City."

"Come now," Sukeroku said, ignoring Kyouji's questions, "Do you still blame me for all of that business in Hirasaki City? How long has it been since that ended? Surely there have been some benefits to you being me."

"It hasn't been anywhere near long enough," Kyouji retorted, "I haven't spoken to my family in years now. I have to look at a picture of my old self every day just to remember what I looked like. And I never once saw you own up to any of the shit you put me through. Now you tell me if there are any benefits to being you."

"Rei," Sukeroku said, "You're friends with him, correct? Can you please calm him down?"

"I'm sorry," Rei said, "But as far as I'm concerned, you're in no position to ask for favors from him or me."

"Damn straight," Kyouji said, "You get me killed, you stick me in your body, then you try to leave me for dead, and you think that I'm just gonna forgive and forget?"

"Look," Sukeroku said, now seeming much less affable, "I won't ask for your forgiveness. You know as well as I do that I couldn't care less what you think of me. But we have a job to do right now. So I'd recommend that you get your head out of your ass and start acting professionally, Subaru Itou."

The two men stared at each other for what seemed like an eternity before one of them said something.

"Likewise, Kyouji Kuzunoha," Subaru responded.

"I'm glad we've reached an understanding," Kyouji said before he turned to Tamaki, "Now, Miss Uchida, your ride awaits."

Tamaki, being a third wheel in what looked to be a continuously escalating shit-show, saw her chance to get out, and took it. There was no way she was staying involved in this hot mess any longer.

"Oh, thank you!" she said, jogging past everyone into the limo. As she stuffed her bag into the vehicle, she turned back and waved, "Bye everyone! Sorry I woke up late!"

And with that, the Devil Summoner climbed into the limo, closed the door, and was taken away by the driver, leaving the rest of the group with little else to say.

"Well that just sort of happened," the man with dyed hair said, "I mean, we didn't even participate in that…"

"Ah yes," Kyouji said, "Before it escapes me, we should do introductions. While my real name is Kyouji Kuzunoha, I would prefer it if you called me Sukeroku."

"The name's Keiji Minegishi," the man with the shades said, "But you can call me 'Cage.'"

"Hitomi Tono," the brown-haired woman said, "My pleasure."

"Now for the protegees," Kyouji said, gesturing to the younger adults behind him, "Go on," he said, introduce yourselves."

"Okay…" the man with dyed hair said, "My name is Eikichi Mishina, but you can all call me Michel. I'm 25, and I head up a band and a sushi shop."

"I'm Lisa Silverman," the blonde girl said, "My friends call me Ginko. I'm 26, and I work as a health instructor and Cantonese tutor."

"I'm Jun Kashihara," the black-haired man said, "I'm 27, and I'm currently studying botany at a University in Tokyo."

And with Kashihara's introduction finished, there was once again silence until someone saw fit to interrupt.

"So what are we doing here?" Mishina said, a bit annoyed now, "I was told this was a matter of national security, so it better be goddamn important."

Katsuya could now feel his brother staring holes into him.

"Bro," Tatsuya asked, "What's going on here?

At this point, Katsuya really had no choice but to try and recapture the silence and hope that whatever was spoken next offered some bit of clarity as to what was actually going on.

"So wait," Maya said, "Who're we calling Kyouji now?"

This was gonna be one hell of a day.

* * *

[Cue OP]

* * *

 **Chapter IX: Days Gone By**

April 20, 2009

12:30 PM

Gekkoukan High School: Entrance Hall

Yu Narukami was bored. Having already gone through his second year of high school, going over such familiar territory couldn't help but make him feel underwhelmed. The most excitement he had been exposed to recently was Junpei Iori moving into the dormitory. In order to alleviate this boredom, Yu had decided that he should probably take up a school club sooner or later. To this end, he now found himself in the entrance hall during lunch break, looking for a billboard where clubs were advertised. Looking around for a moment, he caught sight of it quite quickly, and found that quite a few of his dorm mates were looking at it. Yosuke, Kanji, Rise and Teddie were there, alongside Kurusu, Sakamoto, Kitagawa, Nijima, Akechi, Takamaki, and the female Yuki. Walking over, he decided to strike up a conversation.

"Hey," he said, "You guys looking to join some clubs too?"

The group turned around to face him.

"Yup," Kurusu said, "Though some of us are having an easier time than others…"

"How so?" Yu asked.

"Well…" Kurusu said, "I was never really a 'club,' kind of guy back at my old school. Culture clubs never really appealed to me, and the closest thing to sports I did was an occasional workout or a run at the batting cage."

"I've never really gone to school before," Teddie said, "So I don't even know where to begin!"

"Yeah by the way," Kurusu inquired, "What's the deal with Teddie? From what I've gathered he's never attended school, doesn't have a real last name, and lived in Hanamura's closet before this hot mess. What's up?"

"Really?" Mako asked, "Now I'm curious too."

It probably wasn't the best idea to tell Kurusu that Teddie was a Shadow just yet, so Yu decided to simply brush off the question.

"It's a long story," Yu answered, "I'll have to find a better opportunity to do tell you all. So… anyone else having any luck with clubs?"

"Well, I'm looking for a culture club," Sakamoto said, "I need something to do to pass the time. Problem is I was always more of a sports guy."

"Then why don't you try and pick a sports club?" Rise inquired.

Upon hearing the idol's question, Sakamoto's face showed a hint of melancholy.

"Eh," he brushed off, "I'm just not really in the best shape for 'em. Culture clubs don't put too much stress on me, so that's why I'm aiming for those."

"To be honest," Nijima said, "You'd probably be better off focusing on your academics than superfluous activities."

"Not like it'll matter anyway," Sakamoto deflected, "We'll be leaving this school behind soon enough. Might as well indulge a little bit."

"Well, it's definitely not gonna be a smooth ride," Yosuke said, "As far as I can see, the risk of death's still very real as long as we keep fighting the Shadows."

"Hmm…" Kurusu pondered, "With that in mind, wouldn't it be prudent to try and pick clubs that benefitted our 'nightly endeavours?'"

"Not a bad plan," Yu admitted, "Is there a kendo club?"

Kurusu gestured to a flyer on the board. It appeared that there was indeed a kendo club. All things considered, Yu was pretty happy. If there had been a kendo club at Yasogami, he'd probably have joined it in a heartbeat. It certainly would've been nice to have an excuse to practice his swordplay outside of the TV World. Though, in retrospect, he didn't know if he would've traded it for his friendship with Kou and Daisuke.

"Well," he said, "Guess I've found my calling."

"What about you, Yusuke?" Kurusu inquired, "Why don't you take a stab at it?"

Kitagawa looked at his leader with bewilderment.

"Surely you jest," he responded, "You know I'm not the kind of person who would pursue such interests."

"Yeah, yeah," Sakamoto dismissed, "You'd rather go with art. You know you can join more than one club, right?"

"Regardless," Kitagawa said, "I would prefer to focus my time strictly on pursuing aesthetic beauty. Swordplay does not interest me. Besides, my style is far removed from kendo."

Kitagawa seemed quite obstinate. But Kurusu wasn't having any of it.

"You know, Yusuke," Kurusu said, "I would think that there's a good deal of beauty to be found in swordplay. It can't hurt learning a thing or two about kendo. And there may even be a group who practices iaido on the side."

"And you don't have to attend every practice," Akechi chipped in, "The school in general is pretty lenient about how often you participate in clubs. "

"They're lenient with a lot of things it seems," Nijima said, "Before we got to the dorm, I don't think there was a single person there who actually wore the normal uniform."

"Uniforms aside," Kurusu said, "What do you say now, Yusuke?"

Now Kitagawa looked like he was seriously contemplating it.

"Interesting…" he mumbled, "Very well. I'll see what it has to offer."

"Good," Kurusu said, self-satisfied as could be, "With that out of the way, I think I'll join the boxing club."

That earned quite a few surprised looks, even from Kurusu's teammates.

"Seriously?" Sakamoto asked, "Last I checked, you used a knife."

"Yeah," Kurusu admitted, "But there isn't a knife-fighting club in this school, and martial arts usually complement one's skill with a knife anyway. I'd prefer something more balanced, sure, but there aren't really any other martial arts clubs with vacancies."

"There isn't exactly a 'spear-fighting,' club either," Mako pointed out, "I think I'll go with tennis."

"I assume you'll be sticking with the Student Council, Makoto-senpai?" Sakamoto asked.

"You know me all too well," Nijima admitted.

"At least you guys are making progress," Yosuke mused, "I can't see a thing I'm interested in."

"Me neither," Teddie said, "It just feels like none of these clubs suit my delicate sensibilities."

"Delicate?" Akechi said, "You're a pretty funny guy, Teddie."

"What's that supposed to mean?!" Teddie exclaimed, turning to face the detective.

"Can you guys shut up?!" Yosuke yelled, "I can't even hear myself think!"

"To be fair," Kurusu pointed out, "You and Teddie are the only ones yelling."

"As usual," a voice from behind them said, "You who have faced down gods and smashed them into the ground are left humbled by how you choose to spend your hours of leisure. You guys really are quite something."

Turning around, the group found Adachi in a grey jumpsuit, typical of the school's janitors, carrying a mop over his shoulder and smirking.

"Hey Adachi," Kurusu said, "How's the daily grind treating you?"

"Oh it's going great," Adachi said, clearly lying, "I get to wake up at the asscrack of dawn, eat the smallest, quickest breakfast anyone's ever seen, and help keep a school for brats like you clean. I'm practically in heaven."

"Good," Kurusu said, a coy smile on his face, "I would assume that someone as depraved as you would be complacent with such a position, and you met that assumption. Keep shooting for the stars."

"If you say so," Adachi said, chuckling, "See you brats some other time."

And with that, the cop-turned-prisoner-turned-janitor turned around and resumed his menial labor.

"I still don't know how you do it," Yosuke said.

"Do what?" Kurusu asked.

"How you're able to just… deal with him," Yosuke said, "With us he's always been nothing but evasive or smug, and it just pisses us off. You're always able to stay cool and return the favor. How can you do that when he's so annoying?"

"Experience," Kurusu said, "I've met tons of people like him who think they're hot shit. And I soon realized that the best way to deal with them was to show them how much better I was at their game. Besides, I had him sized up long before this point anyway."

"Oh yeah," Yu said, "You would know about him, being from the future."

"I saw him being interviewed on TV once," Kurusu revealed, "He said that the reason he killed those women was because, 'the world sucks.' I can't stand guys like that. They think that they've got some sort of deepness to their personality, when they're actually just a bunch of shallow pricks."

"Sounds about right," Yu admitted.

"You know," Kurusu continued, "I saw Satonaka and that Sanada guy on TV a couple times too."

"Wait, what?" Yosuke interrupted, "How the hell did Chie get on TV?!"

"It was some sort of interview I think," Kurusu said, "They said she was a police trainee who knew kung-fu. All they said about Sanada was that he had punched a bear in the face."

"Would explain the scars he had..." Rise admitted.

"I also saw some stuff about Amagi and her inn, and that Takeba's job on the Phoenix Rangers show," Kurusu went on, "You guys sure are popular."

Yu was a bit put-off by Kurusu's candidness about their futures, but he figured that most of what he had said wasn't really very revealing anyway.

"So, back on track," Yu diverted, "Anyone else figured out what they're doing?"

Yosuke's face was a mask of frustration.

"Whatever…" Yosuke said, worn out, "Maybe there just isn't a club here for me at all…"

"Why not try the music club?" Yu proposed, "You're interested in that sort of thing, right?"

"Look, bro," Yosuke said, "These kinds of clubs are usually just mini-orchestras. I don't really think they have a place for me when all I know is how to play how to play one song on an electric guitar."

"How about the track team, Yosuke-senpai?" Kanji suggested, "You're a fast guy, right?"

Yosuke scratched the back of his head.

"Well…" he said, a bit flattered, "I wouldn't say I'm that fast…"

"Hm…?" Sakamoto said, now noticing the flyer for the Track Team, "'Manager needed?'"

"I assume you've found something worth looking into?" Kitagawa inquired.

"Do it," Akira insisted, "It'll be a good experience for you."

Despite his friend's insistence, Sakamoto was still apprehensive.

"You sure?" he asked, "I mean, I don't know if I'd be any good at it. I wouldn't say that a guy like me screams, 'manager.'"

"You have experience with track, don't you?" Yosuke said, "I probably wouldn't mind joining if you're gonna help out too."

Sakamoto now had a big, dumb grin on his face.

"Well then," he said, "How could I refuse?"

The group couldn't help but smile. It looked like Sakamoto was taking advantage of his new life quite well. Without the baggage of his bad reputation following him around, he was now free to once again engage in track, even if that engagement was on different terms.

"Glad to see that you're taking charge," Kurusu said, a content look on his face, "Anyone else wanna share their choices?"

"Apparently there's a fashion club," Kanji said, pointing to another flyer, "Says that it's in need of gifted seamsters and seamstresses."

"Sounds right up your alley Kanji-kun," Rise said, "As for me, I'm going with the music club."

"You know that it's just a band, right?" Takamaki pointed out, "With instruments?"

"Yeah, so?" Rise said.

"Wouldn't you prefer something more… vocal?" Takamaki prodded.

"I'm actually trying to branch out," Rise explained, "The idol life can be fun and all, but I've never had much of an opportunity to expand my horizons."

"Don't worry," Sakamoto said, "We'll all be expanding our horizons soon enough." He walked over and slung his arm around Kurusu's shoulder, "Especially this guy!"

"Ryuji," Kurusu said, "What exactly do you mean by that?"

Sakamoto's face went pale. He clearly hadn't meant to say that.

"N-nothing!" he said, releasing his hold on Akira and waving his hands around conspicuously.

"I swear to God…" Kurusu said, now walking towards his blonde friend. He was only brought to a halt when he heard the chatter of a couple of freshmen girls off to the right.

"Oh. My. God," one of the girls exclaimed, "Is that Masahiro Kanda?"

Kurusu shifted his eyes in their direction only to find that one of them was subtly pointing at him.

"Holy crap it is!" her friend said, "I can't believe he's really attending school here!"

"Do you think one of those girls over there is his girlfriend?" the first girl asked.

"Nah," her friend replied, "Probably just more of his groupies- Oh no, he's looking at us!"

Noticing that Kurusu had caught sight of them the girls fled, leaving Kurusu to look back at Sakamoto, who would have been laughing his ass off if he wasn't covering his mouth. A wide grin spread across Kurusu's face.

"Ryuji," he said.

"Yes?" the blonde responded, a mixture of laughter and fear in his voice.

"What's going on?"

* * *

Aohige Pharmacy

3:00 PM

After promising to explain after school, Kurusu decided to spare Sakamoto's life for the time being. After they had finished with their classes and filled out the applications for their clubs, the group found themselves assembled at the magazine rack in Paulownia Mall's Aohige Pharmacy, looking at the same issue of the shonen magazine Kurusu had bought for his friend. However, they were only focused on one page. A page was advertising a concert for the biggest pop sensation in the entire country, the group known as 'Phantom.' That wasn't the issue though. The issue was that the group's leading member, Masahiro Kanda. looked uncannily like Akira Kurusu. Almost to the point of ridiculousness. In fact, one could be forgiven for thinking that they were identical twins. The only difference was that he was wearing a leather jacket with nothing underneath and had his hair slicked up. The entire group who had just been deciding on their afterschool activities a few hours ago was now in silence. Once again, Kurusu turned to Sakamoto, a wide grin on his face once more.

"Ryuji," he said.

"Yes?" the blonde responded, only fear in his voice now.

"What the fuck is this?"

* * *

In the wake of Kurusu finding out that his personal history may have been significantly altered in this timeline, the rest of the group saw fit to Google themselves on the spot to make sure that they weren't going to find out anything unpleasant about themselves. What they found continued to surprise them. Despite his best hopes, Kurusu unfortunately discovered through his contacts and extensive research that Masahiro Kanda was almost certainly his stage name, and that Akechi, going under the stage name of Masato Kaiba, was the second member his Kurusu's act. In much the same way as Kurusu, Mako found that she was a female idol going by the stage name of Kotone Shiomi. Yu found out by reading a few small news stories that he was a famous kendo prodigy, Rise did the same and found that was a Tennis champion in middle school. Reading some old text messages and looking at some of his older photos, Yosuke gathered that he was a former member of an old indie band that split up last December. Kanji was a renowned famous seamster, Sakamoto was a track star who retired after tripping and injuring himself in a race, Takamaki was now a voice actress rather than a model, Kitagawa's family was made up of yakuza, and Nijima's old photos seemed to imply that she was a former delinquent. The only one with no outstanding history whatsoever was Teddie; but regardless of his exclusion, it seemed like the entire dynamic of the two groups had shifted from one direction to the other without warning.

"This is… troublesome," Kitagawa pointed out, "I can't say that my new family's choice of occupation is going to help my social standing."

"I can't believe that I would stoop to delinquency in any universe," Nijima sighed.

"Well you were already hanging out with us," Ryuji reminded her, "You sure you still wanna join up with the student council?"

"Of course," Makoto answered, "As long as I keep within bounds, I won't get any unnecessary attention."

"I can't say the same for me and Akira-kun," Akechi said, "If anything, we'll be getting _way_ more attention than necessary."

Kurusu was busy making calls, trying to find the name of whatever agent he had in this world. He had just succeeded.

"Hello?" he said, irate, "Is this Shinichi Ohori?"

"Masa, darling," the man on the other end of the line said, "You know me, don't you? Now tell me what ails you."

"Akira," Kurusu snapped, "My name is Akira Kurusu."

"Okay then, Akira baby," his agent replied, "Everything's fine. We're all good. Now what's up?"

"I quit," the drawn-in teenager said bluntly.

"My boy," the agent said, "You must be more specific. What do you wanna quit?"

"Everything," Akira stated immediately, "Literally everything. I want nothing to do with this idol bullshit anymore."

"What?!" Ohori yelled, his voice being audible to the entire store, "Is this about school work? Is this about Masato being more popular than you among the fans?!"

"Masato?" Akira asked, not remembering Goro's stage name. He was saved when he noticed Goro pointing to himself. "Oh, right," Kurusu continued, "No. But now that you mention it, the latter does piss me off. "

"Then why?!" Ohori begged, "Tell me, please, why?!"

"One question," Kurusu said, "Have you ever seen _Perfect Blue_?"

"Yes, why?" Ohori said in a matter-of-fact tone.

Kurusu stood silent for a couple seconds before abruptly hanging up the phone.

"God dammit…" he said, head hung low, "Why does the world hate me?

"Excuse me?" Yosuke said, "I wish I was in your position. Girls want you, men want to be you. What's the downside here?"

"Yosuke," Rise said, "Need I remind you that I've been an idol before? And that it wasn't always a pleasant experience?"

Immediately, Yosuke felt guilty. It wasn't fair of him to say that after the incident with Kanamin Kitchen had plainly spelled out what a cutthroat business the idol industry was.

"Oh, yeah," he said, "Sorry man. But I'm still a bit shocked that you'd reject it outright. I mean, Rise's been an idol for a while, but how would you know how dark it can get? And what the hell is _Perfect Blue_?"

Kurusu looked at him with the utmost seriousness.

" _Perfect Blue_ is a movie that basically illustrated to me why being an idol sucks ass," Kurusu said, "On top of that, it's a damn good watch, both in terms of story and animation." His face became a bit more relaxed as he explained the film's virtues.

"Oh," Yosuke said coyly, "So you're into anime?"

Kurusu scoffed, "I suppose you could put it that way…"

"Let me guess," Yosuke snickered, "Your favorite is _Lupin III_ , isn't it?"

"No," Akira said, "The 'Red Jacket,' series is probably my fifth favorite or something, but it's definitely not my number one favorite. I'd have to say _Darker Than Black_ takes that position. If we're talking manga, _Kaiji_."

"Huh?" Yosuke exclaimed, "But… your Persona-"

"Hanamura-san, do you honestly think that just because my Persona is Arsene Lupin that I have some kind of predisposition to like anything to do with the character? Even if I do actually like it?" Akira questioned.

"Well…" Yosuke mumbled.

"Seriously," Kurusu said, exasperated, "It was the same for most of us. I wouldn't exactly say that the works of H.P. Lovecraft or Alexandre Dumas are common knowledge for the average Japanese high school student."

"I of course knew of Ishikawa Goemon," Kitagawa said, "But not to any significant degree."

"What about _Carmen Sandiego_?" Yosuke asked, "You guys at least had to know about Takamaki's Persona, right?"

Kurusu stared at Yosuke for exactly twenty seconds before putting his palm up to his own face and shaking his head.

"Jesus H. Christ…" he said.

"What?" Yosuke said, looking around to see that almost everyone else was trying to avoid his gaze. Even Yu, his partner, looked embarrassed to be around him. Akechi was the only one who wasn't actively trying to ignore him. Takamaki in particular seemed flat out disgusted.

"Well…" Teddie mumbled, trying to save Yosuke from being embarrassed even more, "Your taste in those kinds of things still plays a big part in who you are! Yosuke's favorite anime is _Beck_ , and he's a huge music nerd. He really likes Linkin Park and Nickelba-"

Yosuke almost immediately put his hand over Ted's mouth.

"Now, now Ted!" he said, trying to play it cool, "I don't think they want to know any of that stuff!"

"I disagree," Kurusu said, eyebrow raised.

"Back on topic though," Akechi said, "I think it would be prudent to follow up with the others about anything they might have noticed about their reputations."

"Yo, Akira," Sakamoto chimed in, "How much you wanna bet that Shirogane's a famous writer in this world?"

"Nah," Kurusu said, having perked up at the prospect of gambling, "I'll go with her being an idol."

"Seriously?" Sakamoto questioned, "We've already got three as is. You sure you're gonna take that bet?"

"I'll get in on it," Mako said, "5,000 yen says she's an idol."

"We can do better," Kurusu countered, "10,000."

"I'll bet with Ryuji," Akechi said, "15,000 says she's a writer."

"Wait," Sakamoto said, "I was gonna bet against that!"

"Too late," Kurusu said, "Losers pay out 15,000 to each winner."

"Make it 20,000," Takamaki continued, "I'm with Akira and Mako."

"I think I'll take the option that Shirogane-san would prefer," Kitagawa said, "And also raise the bet to 25,000."

"Uh, guys?" Yu interrupted, having failed to get a word in for the whole conversation, and hoping to stop the group from bankrupting each other.

"What's up Narukami?" Kurusu said, turning in the silver-haired teen's direction.

"Not to be a buzzkill," the silver-haired leader continued, "But while you're discussing this, I thought it would be a good time to say that we should probably keep calm. It wouldn't do us very much good to stress out and act unnatural."

Kurusu paused for a moment, considering Yu's proposal.

"Sounds reasonable," he concluded, "I was the one going on about not compromising the mission. It makes sense to take it easy until we need to go back home and bear the bad news to everyone else. I'll be at the Cafe if anyone needs me."

Yu was surprised by Kurusu's choice of words.

"'Home?'" he inquired, "You consider the dorm your home already?"

"Might as well be," Kurusu admitted, "Where else do I have to go in this world?"

He had a point. Even if Kurusu had a family in this world, they probably weren't anything like his real family at all. Yu didn't know much about Kurusu personally. He hadn't really wanted to talk about the future too much, but he knew that he could still get to know the boy in spite of it.

"Anyway," Kurusu deflected, "I'd rather not focus on such a depressing topic. I'm gonna get going."

With that, Kurusu began walking.

"Things better turn out well," he said, "I hope Naoto knows what she's in for. Hope she's seen _Perfect Blue_."

"You know," Sakamoto said innocuously as his leader walked by him, "Not that I doubt that it has some relevant messages, but I don't think that just watching _Perfect Blue_ a couple of times means that you know everything there is to know about the idol business. I mean, don't you think that's a bit pretentious?"

Kurusu stopped and looked at his friend with the most stoic face imaginable. There was a palpable silence before he spoke once more.

"Don't be a dick, Ryuji."

* * *

Iwatodai Dormitory Lobby

10:54 PM

The scene was the lobby of the Iwatodai dormitory, and Naoto Shirogane was having an existential crisis in front of a talking cat.

"This isn't possible," Naoto said, "This can't be happening. There has to be a logical explanation for this."

"Not to be rude," Morgana said, "But I would think that logic would be an afterthought with all the strange phenomena you've put up with up until now."

"I just…" Naoto stuttered, trying to find the words to describe her situation, "How am I supposed to accept this?"

"Well," Morgana proposed, "Maybe you should just calm down and look at the big picture. I bet this'll make you real popular at school."

"I could care less about my popularity!" Naoto shouted, "The issue here is that I've been completely blindsided by a new backstory that I'm totally unsuited for!"

"Think about it," Morgana said, "It's not like all of you could just live normal, boring new lives. At least a few of you would have to have interesting backstories."

"Then why is mine being an idol?!" Naoto yelled.

"Goddamn it!" a voice called out from the entrance, "I knew I should've bet on that!"

"Hindsight is 20/20," another voice said, "Now cough it up."

Looking behind her, Naoto saw Akira and his friend Sakamoto bickering in front of the front door. Behind them were Yu, Akechi and Mako. Sakamoto was currently yelling at his friend over some kind of bet they made. She noticed that Akira seemed to have a magazine in his left hand.

"You knew!" he said, "You had to have known what was going on!"

"Yes and no," Akira countered, "I just threw it out there as a suggestion at first, but when our idol right here," he gestured to Mako "backed me up on it, I had a sneaking suspicion…"

"Wait," Akechi said, "You don't mean to say that-"

"Yup," Mako said coyly, "Shirogane-san and I are in the same group."

Wait. So she wasn't the only one who had a changed personal history?

"You heard the girl," Akira said, "Pay up."

"You people were betting on me being an idol?" Naoto said, totally in shock.

"Well, Ryuji and Goro bet on you being an author," Akira clarified, "Me and Mako on the other hand chose the option that we believed was more likely to piss you off. After all, the same happened to me."

Naoto was concerned now.

"You don't mean…" she said, almost afraid of what Akira was going to say.

"Yep," he answered regretfully, now holding up the magazine, showing her an image of him in a gaudy outfit, "To my great shame and disappointment, I'm in a boyband. And my more popular bandmate is Goro."

"It is a bit strange," Akechi mused, "Aren't the bad-boy types usually more popular?"

Akira now looked like he was ready to throw Akechi out of the building.

"It's like you're asking me to hurt you," he growled.

"See?" Akechi mused, "That's exactly what I'm talking about."

"You _are_ kind of feeding into his point," Yu admitted to Akira.

"The long story short is that most of us have had altered histories in this world," Mako explained, interrupting the argument, "We were with a larger group when we found out, but we split up a while back."

"How'd you find out about it?" Akira inquired.

"I just heard a couple of my classmates gossipping about how I looked like an idol named Madoka Hirose," the detective began, "I was curious, so I looked up her name… and found that she looked uncannily like me."

"Yep," Akira admitted, "That's how it went for me, too."

"I was lucky enough to just get the backstory of being good at kendo," Yu confessed, "Though I can't say that the expectations that come with that are reassuring."

Naoto could only feel a sense of ominous dread as she contemplated what the others must have gone through. Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. Stepping to the side, the four new arrivals found Chie Satonaka, Yukiko Amagi, Futaba Sakura, Haru Okumura, Elizabeth, and Sho Minazuki stepping in, all of them looking incredibly despondent. Well, except for Sho. He just looked kind of pissed.

"So…" Chie said, clearly trying to find her words, "You guys wouldn't happen to have noticed any… weird looks you've been getting around school?"

Akira on the other hand, wasn't one for subtlety.

"What kind of hands have you been dealt?" he asked, "I'm a pop idol, so it can't get much worse than that, I hope."

The new arrivals cringed at that. Even Sho, which really worried everyone else. It took a while before Chie got the ball rolling.

"M-magazine model…" she said.

And thus, everyone confessed.

"Apparently, I come from a rich family…" Yukiko said, uncomfortably.

"Rakugo performer…" Sakura answered.

"My father runs a martial arts dojo..." Okumura admitted.

"I seem to be a doujinshi artist," Elizabeth said, being the only one who seemed happy with her lot.

"Hell, if I know," Sho evaded, "All I could tell was that everyone at school was way too damn eager to talk to me."

Okay, so Yukiko's wasn't too bad, but it was probably still kind of jarring for her. Chie on the other hand seemed to be going through a major life upheaval. Sakura was pretty bad off as well. Her social skills, or lack thereof, made her one of the last people anyone would think could even hope to perform something like Rakugo. And while Okumura was decent at fighting in general, she preferred the use of an axe rather than her hands. Most of the group could feel their pain.

"Well then," Akira said, smiling disconcertingly, "Welcome to your new lives." He paused for a moment, still contently smiling in an incredibly unnerving fashion. "If you're feeling suicidal, you've come to the right place. 'Cause I wanna fucking kill myself as well."

Suddenly, he tossed the magazine he was holding across the room at a downward angle with a loud grunt, his face now a mask of rage. After it hit the floor, the rest of the group stayed quiet, hoping not to anger the volatile teenager any more than he already was. After he had calmed down, there was a brief moment of shocked silence before he spoke once more.

"We should probably move away from the door…" he said, a bit mortified by his outburst.

* * *

11:38 PM

After the day's earlier bets had been sorted out, it didn't take long for the group to disperse. While most of them decided to turn in early, Naoto, Akira, Yu, Mako, Sho, Elizabeth and Goro stayed in the lobby, watching television and trying to put the day's events out of their minds. They were trying as hard as possible to distract themselves, . Eventually, Yukari, Kirijo, Junpei, Sanada, Makoto Yuki and their remaining dorm mates returned, alongside Ikutsuki. But most of them just went upstairs without a word. A bit before midnight though, Kirijo and Sanada came down the stairs with Yukari, Junpei, and Makoto Yuki in tow.

"Excuse me," she said, "But I'd like to ask a favor of all of you."

Akira had already had quite the long day at this point, but he bit anyway.

"Okay, shoot," he said.

"We'd like you to show these three the ropes," Sanada said, "Take 'em to Tartarus."

God dammit. This day had already been long enough.

"No offense," Akira said, "But we've all had kind of a long day."

"I agree," Naoto said, "I would prefer it if I was able to take the night off."

"What's up?" Yukari inquired, "You all seem pretty down."

"It's just…" Goro tried to explain in a way that sounded believable, "Our personal lives are all kind of hectic right now."

"Such a shame, too," Elizabeth mused, "I had hoped that I would finally be able to test my limits."

"Not helping," Akira said.

"Why do you need us, Sanada-senpai?" Mako inquired.

"The thing is," Sanada said, "I know we've only been to Tartarus once before, but you guys should get in the habit of going there on a regular basis. We haven't gone in a while, and you guys are new to the whole Shadow-fighting business. It'll be a good chance for all of you to get some experience."

"If that's the case, then I'm good to go," Yu said, "I think that should suffice."

"Sorry," Sanada said, "But we're also planning on cracking the next few floors, so we'll need some more of you for backup."

"I'm sorry too," Akira declined, "But I really think you guys could handle it by yourselves."

"C'mooon," Junpei whined, "I want a piece of the action!"

Akira was sure that this guy was gonna be a handful. It was probably better to just keep quiet. Sanada wasn't having any of it, though.

"You're joining the boxing club, right?" the boxer asked, "If you like, I can give you a demonstration once we're done."

Akira also wasn't having it.

"I think I'll wait until our first club meeting," he said.

"Yeesh," Sanada said under his breath, "Are all celebrities this prudish?"

That got Akira up in a heartbeat.

"What?" he said, his voice filled with malice.

"Uh, nothing," Sanada recovered, realizing that he had said that out loud.

"You know what?" Akira said, "I've changed my mind."

Akira made his way over to the stairs, going to get his gear.

"Don't worry," he said, "I'll give you a show worth watching."

This probably wasn't gonna go well if Akira was left to himself.

"If that's the case," Naoto decided, "Then I'm coming along."

"As am I," Goro affirmed.

"Me too," Mako said.

"Yay!" Elizabeth exclaimed.

"Very well," Yu said.

Sho was the only one who didn't respond at all.

"Yo," Junpei said, "You coming dude?"

"Don't bother," Akira said, shouting from halfway up the stairs, "He's not really a team player."

"What was his name again?" Yukari asked, "Sho… Minazuki, right?"

"C'mon Minazuki!" Junpei prodded, "Don't be a stick in the mud!"

Suddenly, Sho's head turned quickly in Junpei's direction.

"Don't call me that," he snarled.

"Call you what?" Junpei inquired, "That's your last name isn't it?"

"Yeah, we don't get it either," Akechi said, "He just really doesn't like being called by his last name."

"Well," Junpei said, "He puts up an awful lot of fuss for such a prude."

Sho was now making his way to the door.

"Let me show you how it's done," he growled.

"Excuse me," Akechi said earnestly, "But shouldn't you be getting your Evoker and weapons first?"

Sho stopped and looked at the detective with an understated look of annoyance. There was a palpable silence before he spoke once more.

"Don't be a dick, Akechi."

* * *

Within the hour, SEES found themselves inside the entryway to Tartarus after showing their new recruits the tower. Currently, the new recruits were taking in the view.

"Woah," Junpei said, "It's just as cool on the inside…"

"Cool isn't exactly the word I'd use to describe it," Akira snarked, "But to each his own."

"This is only the entrance," Akechi explained, "The labyrinth starts beyond that door over at the top of the stairs."

"First, we'll have you three get a feel for this place," Sanada said, "You'll be going with Kurusu, who'll be the leader for this expedition."

Akira was confused. Why were they making him the leader? Didn't him hitting Goro hurt his rep at all?

"Why him?" Junpei asked, "He doesn't exactly look like the 'leader,' type."

Akira was a bit offended by that, but he let it slide.

"Say what you will," Sanada said, "But last time we were here, he didn't disappoint us."

Seriously, were they just ignoring what had happened?

"Not that I'm ungrateful," Akira said, "But why me specifically? Narukami's plenty capable."

"That's a fair question," Kirijo admitted, "It's primarily because we just want to see how you operate. Narukami has shown himself to be fairly level with the people he leads, and usually has a very consistent style, whereas you seem to be more discerning."

Both Akira and Yu knew what Kirijo meant. Yu's style of leadership usually was more general, commanding his group as a cohesive unit. Akira preferred to take advantage of individual members one at a time. While this technically made Yu quicker, it also made him less specific, whereas Akira was a bit slower in his commands, but better took advantage of individual strengths.

"C'mon," Junpei said, "Are you really tellin' me that I'm not the picture of leadership?"

"Don't worry," Kirijo reaffirmed, "If you want to get a shot at being a leader, we'll be deciding on interchangeable leaders for different groups soon enough. So if you prove yourself, you may have a chance. But for now, Kurusu is in charge."

"Any objections?" Sanada asked.

After a brief pause and look of annoyance, Junpei shook his head.

"Alright, let's get going," Sanada said, "You ready, Kurusu?"

"Yeah," Kurusu said, just kind of wanting to get this over with.

"That's the spirit," Sanada encouraged, "Go get 'em, pretty boy."

Akira was not amused, but remained silent. Was this what he was gonna have to put up with now that he was a celebrity? Undeterred, he began to walk forward, but stopped when something off to the side caught his eye. A familiar blue door. Looking back, he noticed that Makoto, Mako, Yu, Goro, Sho, and Elizabeth were also looking at it. Naoto simply looked confused. At first, Akira was surprised that the boy they had been tasked with protecting could apparently see the Velvet Room's door, but then he remembered that Mako had told him a couple days ago about a weird dream she had wherein Igor and Elizabeth were present. Considering that Mako was apparently just Makoto minus a Y chromosome, this really shouldn't have been that surprising. What really surprised him was Sho. According to Narukami's group, the only Persona that the scarred boy had summoned was Tsukiyomi of the Moon Arcana. Something was going on, and he wanted to find out. With that in mind, Akira turned back to Sanada.

"Can you excuse me for a moment?" he asked.

"Uh, sure," Sanada said, a bit befuddled.

With approval given, Akira walked over to the door and subtly gestured for the others to follow him, and everyone save for Naoto did so.

* * *

Once they had stepped through the door, the group found themselves inside what appeared to be a large elevator. The interior was entirely blue, and there was a familiar figure sitting behind a table, in front of the large grate that showed the elevator's ascension.

"Greetings," Igor said, "I've been waiting for all of you."

Knowing that saying too much would probably reveal their nature to Makoto, the group decided to stay quiet.

"The time has come for you to wield your power," Igor said in his trademarked harsh whisper, "The tower that you are about to venture into… How does it come to be? For what purpose does it exist? Regrettably, you are not yet capable of answering these questions. That is why you must be made aware of the nature of your power."

"Uh, excuse me," asked Makoto, who was standing beside Akira and Mako at the front of the pack, "I don't want to be rude, but what are these people doing in here?"

Akira was a bit offended by that, but realized that all things considered, it was probably a good question.

"It is because they are all on their own journeys as well," Igor explained, "Though admittedly, one of them has yet to sign their contract."

Without fail, everyone's eyes immediately flew to Sho, who looked pretty annoyed, per usual.

"What?" he asked, "You think I'd just sign a contract like that just because they asked me to?"

The group decided to leave it at that for now. It was probably best to just get through this conversation.

"Anyway," Akira said to Igor, trying to move the conversation forward, "Please continue."

"Thank you," Igor said, "As I was saying, the power you all possess is unique. It's like the number zero… It's empty, but at the same time holds infinite possibilities. You are able to possess multiple Personas and summon them as needed. And when you have defeated your enemies, you will see the faces of possibility before you. There may be times when they are difficult to grasp… But, do not fear. Seize what you have earned. Your power will grow accordingly… Be sure to keep that in mind."

This was strange to Akira, who had mainly spent his time recruiting enemies rather than strictly beating them into the ground. Though the latter was still quite a viable option for him. It seemed that things would be less complicated this time around. To Yu however, it was very familiar.

"Now," Igor said, "I would like to introduce my assistants."

Suddenly, in a flash of light, five figures were now present. Most of them were quite familiar, sharing the same platinum blonde hair and yellow eyes, except for one. On Igor's left was a young girl in a blue dress and blue headband with butterfly designs. Her hair reached her lower back, and she had a blank face.

"I am Lavenza," she said with a curtsy, "Pleased to meet you."

To her right was a taller girl, a teenager, also in a blue dress, albeit one with a different design, and a small cap. Her hair was more in a bob cut, and her expression was a catlike smile, with the same hair and eye color as the girl beside her.

"My name is Elizabeth," she said, grinning, "But you probably already know that."

And to the second Elizabeth's right was a young man in a blue suit and cap, with short hair and a warm smile.

"Call me Theodore," he said, "Theo for short."

On Igor's other side was a beautiful woman with well-styled shoulder length hair and a blue hair band. Her outfit seemed to be a larger version of the young girl on Igor's left.

"My name is Margaret," she said.

At her side was the oddest of the bunch: a girl with black hair, green eyes, and wearing a blue hat, white top, and plaid red skirt. She didn't say anything, simply looking apathetic.

"That girl over there is Marie," Margaret, "Another guest. A more recent arrival."

"These five will assist in providing services," Igor said, "We have quite a few guests this time around, so I only saw fit to summon multiple assistants."

"Greetings Elizabeth," the group's Elizabeth said, "It is so nice to see you and the family once again."

"Hello Elizabeth," the other Elizabeth said, "It brings me much joy to see you here as well."

"Indeed, Elizabeth," the first Elizabeth replied.

Elizabeth wasn't surprised in the least to see herself, neither was the other Elizabeth. Both were privy to the fact that they existed concurrently, and really, they didn't mind very much. The others very much did.

"I trust you've been doing well?" Igor asked.

"Quite so," Elizabeth affirmed, "Although I have unfortunately been stripped of my Personas as punishment for my abandonment of my position, I have never been quite as happy as I was before. I am surrounded by wonderful, supportive people who, despite being somewhat exhausted by my overwhelming energy, seem to tolerate me."

"Oh, I have so much to look forward to!" her double said.

"Yes you do!" the original affirmed.

"Excuse me," Makoto said, struggling to keep up, "But why are there two Elizabeths here?"

"Identical twins," the two said in unison.

Akira and Yu were concerned. It couldn't have been that simple to fool this guy-

"Oh," Makoto said, "I guess that makes sense."

Okay, that was just kind of disappointing. But regardless, something had to be taken care of immediately.

"Yo, Makoto-san," Akira said, "You mind giving us some time alone with these people?"

"Why?" the withdrawn teen inquired.

"Well," Akira bullshitted, "Since we're the senior members of SEES, I think it's only natural that we have you report back to the group while we work out the details with this Igor fellow. Is that alright?"

Makoto paused for a moment, seriously pondering what Akira had told him.

"Alright," he said after a few seconds, "You make a good point."

And with that, he turned, walked through the crowd, and left through the door. With Makoto gone, Akira turned back to Igor, with a level enough expression contrasted by the rage in his eyes. This was going to get pretty hairy.

"Now," Goro said, speaking before Akira said something rash, "Are we correct in assuming that you are indeed aware that we are from the future?"

Igor's chuckled, "But of course. Although I am not the Igor from years ahead, Master Philemon has informed me of your mission, and ordered me to accommodate you all."

"Now then, Igor," Mako said, moving the conversation along, "Now that we have that squared away, we have a few questions. Is that okay?"

"Quite," Igor said, "While I may not have answers for all of them, let it be known that I will give you as much assistance as I can."

"To start off then," Yu said, "We were recently looking around, and many of us have… outstanding new histories in this world. Is this your Master Philemon's doing?"

Igor chuckled, "But of course. He believed it would be far too simple to just permit our guests to just go about their business without any physical or personal trials."

"Yes," both Elizabeths said, "That would be tremendously boring."

While the straightforward answer was welcome, it did not help the atmosphere. Yu noticed that Akira seemed to be growing more and more irate by the minute. Not surprising at all, he thought.

"He wanted to see you face new challenges in this new world," Igor continued, "To see you face new struggles that you wouldn't dream of ever having to face. Doesn't that sound interesting?"

"Really?" Akira said, snidely, "Because if I had to hazard a guess, I'd say that your master just picked these backstories at random."

"Yes and no," Lavenza corrected, "While some were chosen at random, like yours and Mr. Narukami's, others, such as Mr. Akechi's were chosen specifically for them."

"So let me get this straight," Akira said, "I'm a teen heartthrob because your Master couldn't be arsed to come up with one himself, and Narukami over there gets the easy route for the exact same reason?"

"Yes, definitely," Margaret admitted, "Of course, some results will be more or less to your likings than others'. But we at the Velvet Room sincerely wish you the best in your new roles."

"Actually," Yu said, now changing the topic, "I also want to ask about something else. Why did you say that Marie is a 'recent arrival'?"

"We were… understaffed," Theo admitted.

"As previously mentioned," Margaret elaborated, "This is not the Velvet Room you know of. Me and my siblings, save for the Elizabeth that you're familiar with, are all from this time period. Marie is not."

"Well, that was easy enough, Akira said.

"I got a question," Sho said, loudly, "When and how does that Yuki kid die anyway?"

There was a moment of silence. That was pretty pertinent information, all things considered. Igor glanced at the original Elizabeth, and nodded. The group noticed that for once, she looked quite serious.

"March 5, 2010," she said, "But his fate was sealed on January 31 of the same year. However, I am currently prohibited from telling you the cause."

And that was it. Probably some of the most important information they could've gotten was now in their hands. They had until the very end of next January. Nine whole months.

"Now that it seems you've all said your piece," Igor said, "I would like to take care of one final formality."

Suddenly, a contract appeared on the desk in front of Igor.

"Sho Minazuki, if you would," he said.

"What?" Sho groaned, "No way old-timer. It's not that I don't have timer anything, I just don't like being tied down."

"Do you even know what that contract means?" Akira asked.

"No, why?" Sho responded.

"You do know that if you sign it, you can use more than one Persona, don't you?" Yu said.

Sho's face lit up.

"Hot damn!" he said, now making his way to the desk, "You got yourself a deal old man!"

His name was on the paper within seconds.

"You're gonna wish you never told me about this, Narukami," Sho said, "'Cause someday, it'll bite you in the ass."

"Seriously?" Akira said to Yu, "What's his deal?"

"Yet another long story," Yu said, "We'll get to him later.

"Thank you for your cooperation," Igor said, "Now then, are there any more questions?"

"Just one," Sho said, now a bit calmed down, "What's my backstory in this world?"

Marie suddenly burst out laughing after keeping her silence for quite a bit.

"AHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

That was concerning.

"Ahah… hah…" she wheezed, trying to get a word out, "You're a… a…"

"In this timeline," Theo said, trying to actually get somewhere, "You are a thespian. An actor in theater. Your speciality is dance."

Well, that was simultaneously terrifying and entertaining. The group didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Sho on the other hand, did neither.

"YOU BASTARDS!" he screamed, "I'll kill you all!"

Before he could lunge at them, Yu was behind Sho, restraining him.

"Don't!" he said, genuine concern in his voice, "You'll die!"

"I don't give a damn!" Sho continued to yell.

It didn't seem like it would be a good idea for the group to continue the conversation at this point. Their best bet was to just get Sho out of here and get the night over with. At least they had gotten all their questions answered.

"Okay," Mako said, "It looks like we should probably get going soon. Thanks for the help."

"You're very welcome," Igor said, totally ignoring Sho's outburst.

"Farewell, Elizabeth" Elizabeth prime said, "It was nice seeing you."

"You as well, Elizabeth," her double replied.

"Looks like we're going then," Yu said, still restraining Sho.

"By the way," Margaret added, "Do tell Mr. Adachi to stop by when next you see him."

Now that Yu thought about it, Adachi probably also had access to the Velvet Room as well. Did he just choose not to access it like Sho did?

"I'll try," Akira said, "But who knows? I think he enjoys his janitor job a bit too much. Maybe you stuck him with a fitting position after all. Lucky bastard."

"Regardless of your first impressions," the doppelganger Elizabeth said, "I hope that you all will come to accept their places in this world."

"No," Akira said, "Never."

"Kurusu-san," Yu said, "I think you should probably calm down."

"Calm down?" Akira retorted, "Narukami, as of about nine hours ago, I safely say that I live in a constant state of fear and misery. And since then I've had to watch others fall prey to these bastards' shenanigans as well. I don't even notice when it hurts anymore."

"Surely it can't be that bad," Mako said, "You should probably just take it easy and let someone else handle the work tonight."

Akira looked at the girl, his expression blank. That clearly touched a nerve.

"Mako," Kurusu replied, "No offense, but the only way I'm calming down is if I kill some goddamn Shadows."

This was getting out of hand.

"Kurusu-san," Yu pleaded, "You seem a bit too on edge to perform to capacity tonight. Please think this through"

And now Kurusu was looking at Yu, with his blank face turning to annoyance.

"Narukami," he said, "I literally want to die right now. The only way I won't want to die is killing Shadows. Can you indulge me please?"

It seemed there was no reasoning with him at this point.

"I think we should let him go," Akechi said, "I think he can handle himself perfectly fine."

Now Akira's annoyed face turned to surprise. He wasn't used to Goro taking his side. However, that only lasted a few seconds before transitioning back to cockiness.

"Thank you, Goro," he said, "Now if you'll excuse me, I have a job to attend to."

And with that he began to head for the door by himself, leaving the rest of the group without much to talk about. Suddenly, Sho took their distraction as an opportunity, freed himself from Yu's hold, and charged at Igor, swords drawn.

"Sho, don't!" Yu cried.

"Too bad!" Sho retorted, "Hope these guys are ready to slash and burn!"

However, after making his horrible joke, he then found Margaret right in front of the old man. Without warning, she suddenly lunged at his waist, wrapped her arms around him, jumped high into the air, and plunged down, suplexing Sho into the Velvet Room's floor. They hit the ground with a large impact and kicked up a large cloud of dust.

"Wow," Goro said, covering his eyes "Is Miss Margaret always like this?"

"Yes and no," Yu admitted.

After a good few seconds of trying to protect their eyes, the Persona-users saw Margaret slowly emerging from the dust. Upon closer inspection, they realized that she was also dragging an unconscious Sho behind her. This inspired a great deal of fear among the group. Most of them already knew of how powerful these denizens of the Velvet Room were, and even if they were never planning to attack them, what had just happened made them more afraid than ever. There now seemed to be a collective agreement among the group. One that didn't even need words to be communicated. Don't screw with these people.

"Anyone else?" she asked.

Everyone shook their heads in unison. The obvious decision.

* * *

After what only seemed like a few seconds to them, Makoto walked back over to Junpei, Yukari, and Naoto.

"Hey, dude," Junpei asked, "What're they talkin' about over there?"

Looking over his shoulder, Makoto saw that it did sort of appear as if the entirety of his group was positioned right behind the door. Was this how Junpei and Yukari saw this? Just without the door.

"Don't know," he admitted, "They didn't want me to hear."

It was technically true.

"Why'd you all group up over there anyway?" Yukari asked.

"Just seemed like a nice place, I suppose," Makoto lied.

"They might be discussing strategies," Naoto proposed, further distancing the conversation from the Velvet Room.

Just then, without warning, Akira Kurusu began storming back over to the three teens, knife in hand.

"Let's go," he said, seriously, "I need to work off some steam."

"You sure?" Junpei said, "That's a little abrupt don't you think-"

"Can it," Akira said, "The night is young. Let's move."

He began making his way up the stairs to the first floor. Looking at each other, the rest of the group simply shrugged and began following him, unaware that his face now had a wide, almost psychotic grin on display.

* * *

 **IMPORTANT, PLEASE READ** : Hey guys, here's your belated Christmas present. Now I gotta say, having got a PS4 Pro for Christmas alongside _FFXV_ will keep a man occupied for quite a while. And that's not even factoring all the hours I've sunk into _Overwatch_ and _Project X Zone 2_. Yet, I still haven't gotten to _Skies of Arcadia_ and _No More Heroes 2_.

Anyway, about this chapter. The main roadblock I hit was during the Velvet Room scene. Getting established information out of the way is a serious pain, especially when you have so many characters thrown into the mix, and that's not even beginning to described the backstories I've added. It's also pretty difficult to write a chapter where most of the characters are just kind of miserable. And I just want to say this about these altered histories. I am taking care to make sure that they affect the group dynamic between the time travellers and SEES as little as possible. These are more personal affairs for the group than they are things that they bring to SEES.

Anyway, part of what made this such a pain in the ass to write was that I wanted to convey so much more information. I wanted to add some of the twists I had planned down the road and even include the fight scene in Tartarus, but the whole thing got stretched out much longer than I wanted.

Anyway, with all that said and done, I want to repeat to you that _**your reviews are important**_. Not only do they keep my spirits up, but they also inspire me to keep working more regularly. I'm not saying that I need them to keep going, just that I do really, **really** want them. As much as possible, and as detailed as possible. Anyway, I wanna say I'll be done with Chapter 10 around this time next month, but we'll see what happens. Later. Sorry for all the posturing, and see you in the next chapter.


	12. Update and Chapter 10 Preview

Hey guys, it's been a while. Now before you go off on me, let me give another apology for making you wait so long. It's been a hectic new year and I've been playing way too many video games.

Anyway, I have now played _Persona 5_ and… holy shit. This might be one of my new favorite games. The characters and their dynamic are great, the setting is one of the best in any game, the dungeons are excellent, the story is rich with thematic trappings, and the presentation is flawless in both music and visuals. Seeing Kaneko's demon designs in glorious HD is wonderful, and I hope that you've all been having a wonderful time with it as well. That being said, I'll try to keep my favoritism for it to a minimum in this fanfic, but I make no promises.

However, aside from telling you that, I want to let you know two things. The first is that Chapter 10 is coming along smoothly, and will be done within the month. The second is that rewrites are coming now that I've played _Persona 5_ , so I'll just list off some of the major ones right here.

There'll be a section prior to the Velvet Room where I detail what the groups are doing beforehand

The Phantom Thieves will now be in the middle of taking their detour while bringing Akira home instead of waiting for him to be released from juvie.

Various changes to dialogue and such that I find to be a bit awkward.

A lot of rewrites to Akira's character to make him less angsty.

Romance for MC's will be included from the beginning.

While some of these aren't necessarily a result of me playing _P5_ , I want to use the opportunity to tell the story I wanted to, just better. Anyway, here's a peek at the next chapter so you know what you're in for.

April 20, 2009

10 Minutes into the Dark Hour

Tartarus: Floor 3, Thebel Block

Makoto Yuki was in awe. While he had seen some pretty damn amazing skill from SEES on the night of the dorm raid, now that the tables now were turned, he saw that in full glory. He, along with Yukari and Junpei, was currently watching Akira Kurusu lay into three Shadows, all Muttering Tiaras, all by himself. With nothing but a knife. They were just watching in awe from a distance, all grouped together near the next staircase. It was actually kind of scary. Akira was dashing around a lot, almost too fast for the novice members to see, slicing at the Shadows with cuts that were both quick and deep. And when there was only one remaining, he stopped dashing, brought up his Evoker, and summoned his Persona, which unleashed a large blast of dark energy that obliterated the final Shadow. By the time the scene had finished and Arsene disappeared, the group needed a moment to catch up as he walked back to them. This had been their night for the past five or so minutes, and none of them had so much as touched a Shadow.

"Whew…" Akira breathed, seemingly exhausted, "Okay, I think I'm good now."

He did look a lot more relaxed than when he began this excursion. Which was strange considering that he had just finished fighting a bunch of monsters.

"I don't mean to dishearten you," Mitsuru's voice said suddenly, "But I think you've provided sufficient demonstrations for those three."

"Yeah," the black-haired teen admitted, still out of breath, "Sorry about that."

He regained his composure, his expression neutral.

"Alright," he continued, "You guys can handle the next floor. You fine with that?"

Makoto nodded in agreement. With that done, Akira walked past him and up the stairs, prompting the group to follow him. As they made their way up, Makoto tried to reconcile some musings he had. Akihiko had addressed Akira as a celebrity, and Makoto himself knew for a fact that his classmate looked familiar to him, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it. He had been hearing rumors about some famous idols attending Gekkoukan, but he didn't really pay attention to the idol scene anyway, so most of it was lost on him. However, Akira just didn't seem like the celebrity type, especially considering how eager to fight he had seemed just moments ago. But, he thought, now really wasn't the time for this. They had just reached the fourth floor, and as the staircase disappeared behind the group, they found themselves looking straight at three Magic Hands. Their current leader turned around to address them.

"Get ready," Akira ordered succinctly, "I'll be close by in case you need help, but I'm confident that you three are capable. Ready?"

[Recommended Listening: Mass Destruction - _Persona 3_ ]

Once again, Makoto nodded, and Akira stepped aside to let the group go forward. Immediately, the three got into position in a triangle around the Shadows. Makoto faced them head on, with Junpei to his left and Yukari to his right. He decided to start off with a head-on attack. He ran up to one of the hands and took a one handed stab at it. The hand made a motion as if trying to avoid backwards, but nevertheless, the attack landed, knocking the hand back in conjunction with its dodge. Junpei, not missing a beat, brought out his Evoker.

"Hermes!"

A figure was brought forth sporting a winged helmet with black armor and golden wings sprouting from its feet and joining at the arms. It quickly flew towards the Magic Hand, feet outstretched in a kick. As the hand finished reeling from Makoto's attack, Hermes struck it, causing enough damage to make the hand immediately dissipate.

Yukari shifted her focus to the other two hands, and brought up her own Evoker.

"Io!"

The Persona that came forth resembled Yukari, albeit with pitch-black skin and sitting rather comfortably on a bull's head, which was colored black and white. Rather than charge at the enemy like Hermes had done, Io instead gestured, a ball of green energy appearing between its horns, before firing it at another Magic Hand. The hit caused it to recoil, but it quickly regained its bearings before it scampered over to Makoto and tried to strike him with its palm-like body. Dodging the strike with little effort, the hand toppled to the ground. Makoto then wasted no time in bringing up his Evoker.

"Orpheus!"

Within an instant, the Master of Strings launched a ball of fire at the last hand, and sent it careening at the last Magic Hand. The impact of the fireball sent the hand to the ground, and almost instantly, the trio began to charge at the two hands, kicking up a large cloud of dust as they finished them off. Akira stood by, somewhat impressed. These kids were doing pretty damn well for beginners who hadn't been in too many fights before. As he pondered their performance, the group regained their bearings as the hands disappeared. Akira walked over to them.

"Nice job," he said, "That went about as perfectly as it could've, all things considered."

"'All things considered?'" Junpei inquired, still worn out from the All-Out Attack.

"Makoto-san here is inexperienced with a sword," Akira explained, "but he seems to have a knack for using it anyway. Takeba I've heard is in the archery club. You chose to focus on using Hermes to offset your lack of finesse with your katana. That was a good move."

"Finesse?" Junpei said, "Who needs finesse when you've got muscle?"

Akira looked at Junpei with a relatively expressionless face.

"You realize that your stance is totally unbalanced, right?" he pointed out, "With all due respect, you might wanna join the kendo club if you want some pointers."

"To be honest," Yukari said, "I don't know if he has the grades to keep him in any club."

"Hey!" Junpei said, "I resent that remark!"

"Anyway," Akira said, "We'll keep practicing for a bit before we head back. I've had my fun for tonight, so I'll stay out unless you need me to jump in. You guys look like you know what you're doing."

Makoto was surprised. Akira had calmed down almost too quickly.

"Akira-san?" he asked, "Are you okay?"

Akira paid him little mind.

"I'm fine," he said, a bit exasperated "I'm just trying to stay calm. I've had a rough day, and I don't want to give you any more shit than you need."

"Rough day?" Yukari inquired.

"That's what I said," their leader confirmed, "Anyway, we're wasting time. I don't wanna drag you guys down with my baggage."

And with that, he began walking through the dark hallways of Thebel, the group following him in turn as they began their trek through Tartarus anew.

[Cue OP]

17 Minutes Later...

Approximately thirty minutes into the Dark Hour, the group had reached the sixth floor before they decided that it was about time to go back. The newbies had received their training, and there was still cleanup to be done on the higher floors. As they appeared from the teleportation apparatus, they were greeted by the rest of the group indulging themselves in various other menial tasks. Yu, Mako, Akechi, Elizabeth, and Naoto were all playing some kind of card game, Sho was leaning against the wall, Akihiko was doing practice punches, and Mitsuru was kneeling next to the device she used for support. She was also the first to notice the group's return.

"Welcome back," she said, drawing the other Persona users' attention to Akira's squad, "Are you all feeling okay?"

"'Bout as good as I can, all things considered," Akira admitted, "I think it's best if I sit the next round out."

"You okay?" Akechi asked, "You were raring to go the last we saw you."

"I've calmed down," Akira snapped, "I just need a bit of sleep." He turned to the group he had been leading, "What about you guys?"

"The rest of us are also a bit tired," Makoto admitted, "We might want to get back home before we get fatigued."

"Amen…" Junpei groaned as he stretched out his arm, "I am done."

"I wouldn't say I'm that tired," Yukari said, "But I should probably head back too."

"Alright then," Akihiko said, "You can all head back together then. Good work."

"I'm surprised," Yu said, "You were really angry a couple minutes ago, Kurusu-san. What's happened?"

Akira avoided Yu's gaze.

"Just did some self-reflecting," he said.

And with that, his group started walking to the exit. As the group left, however, Akihiko stopped Akira with a tap on the shoulder.

"Hey," he said to the underclassman, "Nice job today, Kanda-san. Sorry for hagglin' you."

Akira's head snapped back, and for a split second, and despite the neutral expression on Akira's face, Akihiko could swear he was furious at him. However, the enraged aura disappeared almost instantly, only to be replaced with one of exhaustion.

"Whatever," Akira said, almost defeated, "Thanks. Sorry for being an ass about it."

With his piece said, Akira continued out the door, leaving the rest of the group.

"So," Akechi said, "Who's going to take a shot at the fifteenth floor?"


	13. Chapter 10: Darksiders

Hey guys, sorry it took even longer this time. School sucks, yadda yadda, I'll do better next time. I've missed so many personal deadlines at this point that they all sort of fade into one another now. Anyway, can I just get out of the way that 2017 is the best year in modern gaming? Like, holy shit. Have _Persona 5_ , _Tales of Berseria_ , _NieR: Automata_ , _Nioh_ , _Yakuza 0_ , _Breath of the Wild_ , _Resident Evil 7_ , _Horizon Zero Dawn_ , _Shadows of Valentia_ , and _Gravity Rush 2_ all being released within the first half of the year just not blown anyone else's mind? Granted, I haven't played, nor do I even own, all of those, (I've played _P5_ , _Berseria_ , _Yakuza 0_ , _Gravity Rush 2_ , _Fire Emblem: Shadows of Valentia_ , and _Automata_ ) but the fact that everyone's been flipping out over all of these good-ass games in such a short span of time is unheard of for me, who grew up in the generally-mediocre 7th Generation of Consoles. It's like the incredible wave that late 2016 was riding just never stopped, and the gaming industry just asked itself, "What if we made games **good** again?" And shit, we're still waiting for _Fire Emblem Warriors_ , _Trails of Cold Steel 3_ , _Super Mario Odyssey_ , _Dragonball FighterZ_ , (Really wasn't expecting that one) and _Yakuza Kiwami_ (Which is being sold for **30 dollars** )!

Now, a major concern being brought up is that people don't seem to like the idea of Makoto's journey being interrupted by the already-developed casts of _P4_ and _P5_ , and that's totally a legitimate concern. Fix fics like this are murky territory, and some of them can border on simple wish fulfillment and little else. My goal with this story however, is to subvert that. I want to make this clear. The goal of the heroes is to make sure Makoto Yuki gets through this alive, but that task entails sacrifice, and however happy some of the results may be in this story, none of them will be without significant repercussions, and I do mean that. There isn't going to be an ending where everyone's just going to be completely alive and partying at the end. There **will** be consequences in every potential ending I come up with.

enigmakint05/Guest: I'd have to agree. If there was one thing I was wondering about the last chapter when writing it, it was, "Did I make Akira too much of a prude?" or "Did I focus on Akira too much?" It's part of the reason my updates took so long, and Chapter 9 in particular. It's just really hard to write for characters who are just kind of being miserable. Thankfully, that's kind of behind me, so I think I'll be good. Though part of the stuff he's saying is meant to be ironically edgy. Like his pretentious references to _Perfect Blue_ , which Ryuji called him out on, or all the times I made him quote Filthy Frank. Part of Akira's personality is that for as cool as he is, he can try a bit too hard sometimes. Whereas Yu usually lets himself show weakness more, Akira usually tries to avoid doing so, but kind of ends up looking like a dork anyways. That's part of the reason why he's a bit worse under pressure, because he's more of a perfectionist. This is also why he's the only person in the who's said "Fuck," so far. Though in all honesty, in the rewrites I'm planning to do I'm thinking of just redoing him in general, because playing having now played _Persona 5_ all the way through I completely agree with your sentiments. I don't get the sense that Akira as I've come to know him would act like this. Rather than a perpetually moody guy who generally means well and wants to seem perfect, he strikes me more as a guy who's just kind of a casual dork rather than a stoic dork, even if he's still kind of a schemer, with a more lively personality that emerges when he's thieving. This also means I'll have to rework the "punching Goro," scene.

Ashia21: I may have been a bit obtuse in how I presented this, but I wanted to make sure in earlier chapters that I mentioned that SEES is dividing itself into units with individual leaders in each of them. Both Makotos will take such a position, as will Yu and Akira. Furthermore, while this should go without saying, there's a bit more to what Philemon is trying to do than meets the eye, and Fem!Makoto actually plays a huge part in that. I won't spoil what his plan is, but let's just say this for now; the reason for the Masked Circle's presence is a necessity for Philemon's plan to work.

* * *

April 20, 2009

10 Minutes into the Dark Hour

Tartarus: Floor 3, Thebel Block

Makoto Yuki was in awe. While he had seen some pretty damn amazing skill from SEES on the night of the dorm raid, now that the tables now were turned, he saw that in full glory. He, along with Yukari and Junpei, was currently watching Akira Kurusu lay into three Shadows, all Muttering Tiaras, all by himself. With nothing but a knife. They were just watching in awe from a distance, all grouped together near the next staircase. It was actually kind of scary. Akira was dashing around a lot, almost too fast for the novice members to see, slicing at the Shadows with cuts that were both quick and deep. And when there was only one remaining, he stopped dashing, brought up his Evoker, and summoned his Persona, which unleashed a large blast of dark energy that obliterated the final Shadow. By the time the scene had finished and Arsene disappeared, the group needed a moment to catch up as he walked back to them. This had been their night for the past five or so minutes, and none of them had so much as touched a Shadow.

"Whew…" Akira breathed, seemingly exhausted, "Okay, I think I'm good now."

He did look a lot more relaxed than when he began this excursion. Which was strange considering that he had just finished fighting a bunch of monsters.

"I don't mean to dishearten you," Mitsuru's voice said suddenly, "But I think you've provided sufficient demonstrations for those three."

"Yeah," the black-haired teen admitted, still out of breath, "Sorry about that."

He regained his composure, his expression neutral.

"Alright," he continued, "You guys can handle the next floor. You fine with that arrangement?"

Makoto nodded in agreement. With that done, Akira walked past him and up the stairs, prompting the group to follow him. As they made their way up, Makoto tried to reconcile some musings he had. Akihiko had addressed Akira as a celebrity, and Makoto himself knew for a fact that his classmate looked familiar to him, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it. He had been hearing rumors about some famous idols attending Gekkoukan, but he didn't really pay attention to the idol scene anyway, so most of it was lost on him. However, Akira just didn't seem like the celebrity type, especially considering how eager to fight he had seemed just moments ago. But, he thought, now really wasn't the time for this. They had just reached the fourth floor, and as the staircase disappeared behind the group, they found themselves looking straight at three Magic Hands. Their current leader turned around to address them.

"Prepare yourselves," Akira ordered succinctly, "I'll be close by in case you need help, but I'm confident that you three are capable. Ready?"

 **[Recommended Listening: Mass Destruction - _Persona 3_ ]**

Once again, Makoto nodded, and Akira stepped aside to let the group go forward. Immediately, the three got into position in a triangle around the Shadows. Makoto faced them head on, with Junpei to his left and Yukari to his right. He decided to start off with a head-on attack. He ran up to one of the hands and took a one handed stab at it. The hand made a motion as if trying to avoid backwards, but nevertheless, the attack landed, knocking the hand back in conjunction with its dodge. Junpei, not missing a beat, brought out his Evoker.

"Hermes!"

A figure was brought forth sporting a winged helmet with black armor and golden wings sprouting from its feet and joining at the arms. It quickly flew towards the Magic Hand, feet outstretched in a kick. As the hand finished reeling from Makoto's attack, Hermes struck it, causing enough damage to make the hand immediately dissipate.

Yukari shifted her focus to the other two hands, and brought up her own Evoker.

"Io!"

The Persona that came forth resembled Yukari, albeit with pitch-black skin and sitting rather comfortably on a bull's head, which was colored black and white. Rather than charge at the enemy like Hermes had done, Io instead gestured, a ball of green energy appearing between its horns, before firing it at another Magic Hand. The hit caused it to recoil, but it quickly regained its bearings before it scampered over to Makoto and tried to strike him with its palm-like body. Dodging the strike with little effort, the hand toppled to the ground. Makoto then wasted no time in bringing up his Evoker.

"Orpheus!"

Within an instant, the Master of Strings launched a ball of fire at the last hand, and sent it careening at the last Magic Hand. The impact of the fireball sent the hand to the ground, and almost instantly, the trio began to charge at the two hands, kicking up a large cloud of dust as they finished them off. Akira stood by, somewhat impressed. These kids were doing pretty damn well for beginners who hadn't been in too many fights before. As he pondered their performance, the group regained their bearings as the hands disappeared. Akira walked over to them.

"Nice job," he said, "That went about as perfectly as it could've, all things considered."

"'All things considered?'" Junpei inquired, still worn out from the All-Out Attack.

"Makoto-san here is inexperienced with a sword," Akira explained, "but he seems to have a knack for using it anyway. Likewise, you chose to focus on using Hermes to offset your lack of finesse with your katana. That was a good move."

"Finesse?" Junpei said, "Who needs finesse when you've got muscle?"

Akira looked at Junpei with a relatively expressionless face.

"Your stance is totally unbalanced," he pointed out, "If you want to make the best use of your weapon, you should improve it. With all due respect, you might wanna join the kendo club if you want some pointers."

"To be honest," Yukari said, "I don't know if he has the grades to keep him in any club."

"Hey!" Junpei said, "I resent that remark!"

"Anyway," Akira said, "We'll keep practicing for a bit before we head back. I've had my fun for tonight, so I'll stay out unless you need me to jump in. You guys look like you know what you're doing."

Makoto was surprised. Akira had calmed down almost too quickly.

"Akira-san?" he asked, "Are you okay?"

Akira paid him little mind.

"I'm fine," he said, a bit exasperated "I'm just trying to stay calm. I've had a rough day, and I don't want to give you any more shit than you need."

"Rough day?" Yukari inquired.

"That's what I said," their leader confirmed, "Anyway, we're wasting time. I don't wanna drag you guys down with my baggage."

And with that, he began walking through the dark hallways of Thebel, the group following him in turn as they began their trek through Tartarus anew.

* * *

[Cue OP]

* * *

 **Chapter X: Darksiders**

17 Minutes Later...

Approximately thirty minutes into the Dark Hour, the group had reached the sixth floor before they decided that it was about time to go back. The newbies had received their training, and there was still cleanup to be done on the higher floors. As they appeared from the teleportation apparatus, they were greeted by the rest of the group indulging themselves in various other menial tasks. Yu, Mako, Akechi, Elizabeth, and Naoto were all playing some kind of card game, Sho was leaning against the wall, Akihiko was doing practice punches, and Mitsuru was kneeling next to the device she used for support. She was also the first to notice the group's return.

"Welcome back," she said, drawing the other Persona users' attention to Akira's squad, "Are you all feeling okay?"

"About as good as I can, all things considered," Akira admitted, "I think it's best if I sit the next round out."

"You okay?" Akechi asked, "You were raring to go the last we saw you."

"I've calmed down," Akira said, "I just need a bit of sleep." He turned to the group he had been leading, "What about you guys?"

"The rest of us are also a bit tired," Makoto admitted, "We might want to get back home before we get fatigued."

"Amen…" Junpei groaned as he stretched out his arm, "I am done."

"I wouldn't say I'm that tired," Yukari said, "But I should probably head back too."

"Alright then," Akihiko said, "You can all head back together then. Good work."

"I'm surprised," Yu said, "You were pretty worked up a couple minutes ago, Kurusu-san. What's happened?"

Akira avoided Yu's gaze.

"Just did some self-reflecting," he said.

And with that, his group started walking to the exit. As the group left, however, Akihiko stopped Akira with a tap on the shoulder.

"Hey," he said to the underclassman, "Nice job today, Kanda-san. Sorry for hagglin' you."

"Thanks," Akira said, "And don't worry, it was my pleasure."

With his piece said, Akira continued out the door, leaving the rest of the group.

"So," Akechi said, "Who's going to take a shot at the fourteenth floor?"

"Me," Akihiko said, "I've been itching for a shot at Tartarus for a **long** time now."

"Hold on," Mitsuru interjected, "We'll need to decide the leader for this group first."

Akihiko smirked, "What? You don't trust me to lead?" he jested.

"I think she means that you're better at acting out plans than making them," Akechi pointed out.

"Anyway," Mitsuru resumed, "I think Narukami should lead this group. He's proven to be quite reliable in the past."

"Thank you," Yu said with a small bow, "I'll take three others with me for now. Is that acceptable?"

"Yes," Mitsuru said, "In fact, we'll primarily be operating in four-man squads from here on out."

"Why are we all even here then?" Sho asked abruptly, "There's no way that we'll all be able to go anyway."

"Better safe than sorry," Yu pointed out, "If we run into an unexpected situation, it's better to have as many options as possible available to us."

Sho just grunted and started ignoring everyone again.

"So then," Mitsuru asked, "Who will you take?"

Yu paused for a moment and observed the rest of the group. The first thing he knew was that he was that Naoto was definitely coming with him. She was someone he knew that he could count on in any situation. The next few choices were what concerned him. He was certainly suspicious of Goro Akechi, but the future detective seemed very reliable in spite of Akira's claims about him. More than anything, Yu just wanted to know what he was capable of. And then there was Mako, the one he most wanted to get a grasp on. While he had fought with her in the initial runs in Tartarus, he still needed to gauge her experience with the Wild Card.

"Naoto, Akechi, and Mako," he said, "You're with me."

Wordlessly, the group approached him. Reviewing his choices, Yu was confident that having two Wild Card users and a Hama/Mudo specialist would help them through quickly advance through the next few floors once they had adequately dealt with the threat on Floor 14.

"You sure?" Akihiko asked, "I'm more than ready to go."

Yu turned to address the boxer.

"Yes," he said, "I'm satisfied with this group."

Akihiko sighed in disappointment, his arms now crossed.

"Very well," Mitsuru said as Akihiko sulked, "Begin the operation immediately."

* * *

33 Minutes into the Dark Hour

Makoto "Mako" Yuki was in a unique position. She had very little connection to any of the members of her group aside from Elizabeth, if only because she know knew that she was friends with her brother, Theo. While she had taken much of the situation so far in complete stride, her mind was racing with questions on a constant basis. As the team left the portal that had taken them to the 14th floor of Tartarus and slowly approached the small hallway where their target was waiting, the next question that came to her was fairly simple by comparison. "Will I make it out of here alive?" The fact that such a question carried little weight compared to the other inquiries she had struck her as incongruous, but then again, she was fighting monsters anyway. Logic and reason seemed to just kind of be giving up. Looking around, she noticed that the group, still standing by the portal, was composed, knowing that the Rampage Drive wouldn't attack unless they approached it. Regardless, they still had their weapons out.

"So, leader," Akechi said, "Any plan of attack?"

Yu thought for a moment before gathering the group into a huddle so that Mitsuru couldn't hear them.

"If I remember correctly," he said, "Rampage Drives are weak to physical and electric damage, and strong against wind. My specialty is in electric damage, so I'll lead the charge with an attack from the distance. You guys can follow it up with an All-Out Attack."

Looking at the large machine-like quadruped Shadow, the strategy didn't seem too bad. This looked like it was on track to being an easy mission. Mako was confident. Yu was shaping up to be a great leader.

"What was that?" Mitsuru said, "I couldn't hear you there."

The group broke up as Mako replied. "Nothing," she said, "We were just discussing some strategies."

"Keep it in earshot next time," Mitsuru said.

"Sorry," Akechi said, "We're ready to go now."

"Alright then," Naoto said, "Let's get ready."

With that, the group collectively nodded, they looked towards the Shadow and took a quick moment to get themselves mentally prepared. After twenty seconds of focus, Yu spoke.

"Let's go."

 **[Recommended Listening: Master of Tartarus - _Persona 3_ ]**

The group quickly moved towards the Shadow. Without wasting a beat, Yu brought out his Evoker and summoned Izanagi. Just as planned.

"Zio!" he ordered.

Izanagi threw a bolt of lightning at the giant Shadow, but when it approached its target, something unexpected happened. Rather than being staggered, the Shadow simply suffered a small amount of recoil. Not willing to back down however, Akechi decided to open off with some shots from his ray gun, firing two blasts at the Drive. However, from there on, something even more unexpected happened. The Rampage Drive was completely unaffected. And worse, it now knew that the group was here.

As it noticed them, it moved to the more open area of the fourteenth floor, and the group proceeded to surround it. Yu facing its front, Akechi to the right, Mako on the left, and Naoto taking the back.

"Pierce attacks won't work," Mitsuru said, "Try a slash or strike attack!"

Immediately understanding the order, Yu gave a preliminary slash with his katana, while Mako summoned Orpheus to Bash the Shadow. While Yu's katana left no visible damage, Mako was worse off. She was sent reeling back, the brunt of her own attack being sent back at her.

"So it either reflects or nullifies all physical damage…" Akechi observed, "We're in a bad spot."

"At the very least," Mitsuru said, "Electricity seems to work."

However, the Shadow was done taking hits, now it was looking to retaliate. Turning towards Naoto, the Drive charged faster than she could react, tackling her.

"Shit!" Yu exclaimed.

Naoto was sent skidding across the floor, but thankfully, she was able to stay standing.

"Hmm," Akechi said, "Looks like we'll need to try something different."

The second detective then pulled out his Evoker, but when he pulled the trigger, Robin Hood wasn't the Persona that appeared.

"Apsaras!"

Instead, a beautiful blue-skinned woman in white robes and a transparent veil appeared, before making a strange gesture and firing off an ice spell at the Rampage Drive. Mako was taken a bit aback. Akechi must've picked that Persona up on their first visit to Tartarus. While the Shadow flinched from the attack, it still wasn't anywhere close to being done in.

"Alright," Yu said, regaining his bearings, "Let's defend!"

"Right!" Mako acknowledged, pulling out her Evoker. This time, she opted to summon a Persona she had acquired on her first run in Tartarus a couple of weeks ago.

"Pixie!"

Bringing out the small fairy dressed in blue, Mako casted Dia on Naoto, giving her more energy to keep fighting. Yu quickly followed suit.

"Ara Mitama!" he said, "Rakukaja!"

He directed the defense increase towards Naoto, knowing that she had the least stamina in the group. Now, it was Naoto's turn. She pulled out her Evoker once more.

"Sukuna-Hikona!"

Bringing out the small butterfly-like Persona, rather than make use of its sword, she instead opted to cast a magic skill.

"Megido!"

The Persona fired off a blast of non-elemental energy at the Shadow, dealing a decent amount of damage, but still not affecting it substantially enough. In response, the Drive casted Tarukaja on itself, buffing its own attack, before moving to charge at Akechi.

"Look out!" Mako shouted.

Goro was two steps ahead, already putting up his guard, knowing that he wouldn't be able to dodge in time. Despite this, when the Shadow hit him, he was almost knocked to the floor, and only barely kept standing.

"Dia!" Mako yelled, bringing out Pixie once more and healing Akechi.

"This is looking more like a test of your stamina than anything else," Mitsuru said.

"We'll just have to keep hitting it with ice and electric skills," Yu said, before realizing something. "Do any of you have a Persona with an ailment skill?"

"Hold on," Mako said, focusing for a moment. After about half a second, she responded, "My Pixie can cast Pulinpa!"

"Do it!" Yu ordered.

Mako brought up her Evoker, but was interrupted by the Rampage Drive shifting its focus and charging at her instead. Noticing this, Goro immediately brought out his Evoker again, and fired.

"Apsaras! Bufu!"

The blast of cold energy travelled fast enough to hit the moving Rampage Drive, slowing it by the smallest margin. This margin was just wide enough that Mako was able to avoid its charge. With the Drive now facing away from her, she brought out Pixie once again.

"Pulinpa!"

The invocation spawned a strange aura around the Shadow, and after a few seconds, it turned around, but failed to actually target any of the team, continuing to rotate its upper half while standing still.

"Good work!" Mitsuru said, "You've successfully confused it!"

"All right," Yu said, "Let's lay into it before it recovers!"

With Yu's order, the sound of every fighter's Evokers rang throughout the fourteenth floor, and the sound of magic overwhelmed the Shadow's loud groans. Mako was casting Zio with Pixie, Yu was doing the same with Izanagi, Akechi was using Bufu with Apsaras, and Naoto was opting to keep using Megido. The onslaught continued for about thirty seconds before the Rampage Drive finally focused on the group. Instead of charging, however, it instead gathered its magic energy before firing off several bolts of lightning. A Mazio.

"Lightning!" Akechi warned, signaling the group to dive out of the way immediately. The group took notice and rolled out of the way, most of them just barely avoiding the lightning. Mako however, sustained a direct hit.

"Rrgh!" she grunted, the damage from her bash and the lightning taking its toll on her.

As he landed, Akechi opted to switch back to Robin Hood. While he had been conserving his magic with Apsaras, he now wanted to end this fight as soon as possible to keep Mako from getting hurt even more. It would use up the remainder of his magic, but this thing was starting to wear everyone out, so he needed to take the chance. He brought out his Evoker and fired it, bringing forth the white-clothed archer.

"Megido!"

The archer conjured an Almighty burst of energy, which careened towards the Rampage Drive, before exploding in a bright blast of white light. The blast sent the Rampage Drive sliding back into the nearest wall with a crash. And for a short moment, there was a palpable silence. The Rampage Drive stood still for a moment, its rear slumped against the wall, before it started shaking. The group raised their Evokers, prepared for a last stand… only for the Shadow to disappear into the black smoke that all Shadows left in their wake. Everyone lowered their Evokers and sighed in relief. Mako felt like she should be shaking in relief, but oddly enough, this situation seemed rather familiar to her. Chances were that she had already gone through this situation at least once.

"Good work," Mitsuru said, "A splendid victory."

"Damn..." Akechi sighed, "The Shadows up to this point have been easy to fight. Where did this thing come from?"

"That's, *huff*, oddly informal speech for you, Akechi-san," Naoto pointed out.

"Can you blame me?" he asked, "That was a pretty difficult fight."

"He's right," Yu pointed out, "That Shadow was a cut above the other floor guardians we've faced up until now."

"Anyway," Akechi said, having caught his breath, "Now that that's over, what say you guys that we try to get as far as we can up Tartarus for now? We have about twenty minutes."

Mako almost balked at him. Most of them had used up a good deal of their magic fighting the Rampage Drive, and they were almost on the verge of exhaustion. Was now really the time to keep going? And why was he suggesting it right after their fight? Could he just be that bad at reading the mood?

"Are you serious?" she asked, "Why not get the others to do it? We're pretty drained from that fight just now."

"I agree," Mitsuru said.

"Calm down," Akechi said, a grin on his face, "The various lesser Shadows we've fought up until now haven't been much trouble. We can probably get through just fine without any magic."

"As the leader, Yu-senpai has the final say in this," Naoto said, turning to her leader, "What do you say?"

Yu paused for a moment to think before responding.

"He does make a good point," Yu said, "But I think we should keep out of any unnecessary fights."

"So," Akechi asked, "You seem to have reached your answer, leader."

Yu looked at the brown-haired detective.

"Very well," he said, "But we'll be trying to avoid combat. Is that alright by you, Akechi?"

"Indeed it is," the Second Detective Prince said.

And with that, the team grouped back together, and proceeded.

* * *

43 Minutes into the Dark Hour

Thebel Block, 16th Floor

As it turned out, however, there really wasn't much of a need for any of the debate on the fourteenth floor in hindsight. The next flight had been quite close to the 15th floor entry point. However, as the group reached the top of the stairs leading to Floor 16, they were met with a peculiar sight. The 17th floor was blocked off by a barricade of desks and chairs. Immediately, Yu and Naoto walked up and began investigating, only to find that there was a barrier surrounding the desks and chairs that kept them from advancing at all. Mako and Akechi watched, a bit perplexed.

"What's with this?" Mako said, "Why is the next floor blocked off?"

"This presents us with quite the predicament," Akechi said, "This tower is supposedly our only lead on the Dark Hour's existence, and we're stuck on the sixteenth floor."

"How do you think we can remove this barricade?" Mako asked.

"Beats me," Akechi said, shrugging his shoulders. However, as he looked to the side, Mako saw him looking at something else. Turning her gaze, she found he was looking at a steel case that was just sitting on the floor, like most of the other cases they had found in Tartarus. Walking over to it and opening it, the two found an old document inside, reading, 'The electricity's hooked up. But, why do they need so much? There's only a school on this island…'

"What?" Mako exclaimed, "What is this thing doing here?"

"It seems to be related to the school's construction," Goro observed, "But as to why it ended up in Tartarus, that's a whole other story…"

Suddenly, Mitsuru's voice came on.

"It seems we won't be able to progress any further for now," she said, stating the obvious, "Regardless, you've done good work for today. Come back."

"Well, nothing we can do about it," Akechi said, "Let's catch up with Akira and the others."

"I hope they got back home okay…" Mako said.

* * *

Ten Minutes Ago

Tatsumi Port Island: Moonlight Bridge

Since the train line was currently not an option, Akira, Makoto, Yukari, and Junpei had opted to take the long route, walking across the Moonlight Bridge to get back to the dormitory. Akira was unconsciously walking ahead of the group, but by the ¾ mark, he suddenly heard the rest of the group stop whispering, increase their pace, and before he knew it, felt one of them tap him on the shoulder. Akira turned around, still walking, and found Junpei behind him.

"Hey," he asked, "I was just wondering, where'd you get that sick knife?"

"Huh?" Akira exclaimed.

"Your knife," Makoto repeated, "We were just talking about how well-crafted it was. You can take out most Shadows without your Persona, so we wanted to know if it had anything to do with your knife."

Pulling it out of the small knife holster he had on his waist, Akira brought up his knife and looked at it. It was a high-grade weapon he had attained near the end of his journey, the day before he journeyed into the depths of Mementos. A double-edged steel dagger that, while formerly dull in the real world, was now an effective weapon in any situation. He would probably have just hung it up on his wall at home if he had gotten the chance. But now here he was, fighting Shadows again. However, that wasn't where it came from as far as SEES was concerned.

"Just got lucky," Akira said, "I happened to get my hands on a quality weapon almost purely by chance."

He had bought it at Untouchable.

"Well where'd you get it?" Junpei asked, "If we all had weapons like that, Tartarus'd be history!"

"It came in the mail," Akira lied.

"What?" Junpei asked, "You serious?"

It technically wasn't a lie. Since the group had decided that using their weapons straight out of the gate was a bad idea, as it would raise suspicion from other members of SEES as to how they got them, Akira and Yu had instead agreed to come up with an idea to secure their use without letting SEES know they had already owned them. The result was a two day effort to get the weapons outside of the Iwatodai Dorimtory, clean them of any fingerprints just in case, package them safely in a delivery box, and put it outside the Dormitory while no one was looking. The operation required Futaba doing a lot of hacking to keep the cameras from seeing anything, and making use of the Dark Hour to pack the weapons without any unsuspecting civilians noticing what they were doing. Ultimately, despite a few hiccups, the group had managed to complete the operation by the day Makoto Yuki had arrived at the dormitory.

"He's serious," Yukari said, having been there the day they had opened the box, "A box full of weapons like swords, knives, axes, and guns was just dropped outside of the dorm anonymously. Akechi somehow got his hands on a laser sword and ray gun."

Junpei burst out laughing.

"Hahahahaha! That's rich!" he said through his laughter, only to look back at Yukari and see a totally straight-laced expression staring back at him. "Okay then…" he recanted, "So wait, Akechi seriously has a laser sword and ray gun?"

"Yup," Yukari said, "We sent it to the Kirijo Group's labs for a short while after the big fight we had with the Masked Circle, and they said they'd try their hand at recreating it. No progress so far, though, considering he's got them back."

"Geez," Junpei said, "With weapons like that I don't know why Akira-san here went for the knife. I mean, even if Akechi got to it first, wasn't there was an axe or something?"

"Hey," Akira said, "Haru called dibs."

"Isn't she some kind of martial arts prodigy though?" Junpei asked, "Why didn't she take those punchy-blades?"

Akira grimaced. He really needed to have a word with this Philemon guy at the earliest opportunity.

"Take it from me," he said, "She's not very talented and she doesn't even like martial arts. Makoto does, and by the way, they're called 'Katars.'"

"Really?" Junpei questioned, "I thought Haru-senpai lived in a dojo?"

"The situation's complicated," Akira said, "She likes gardening more than anything else."

"You know," Yukari pointed out, "It seems like a lot of you don't really match up with the rumors I've been hearing. Like, Nijima-senpai seems too orderly to have been a delinquent."

"And that Satonaka girl seems a bit too… feisty to be a model," Junpei followed up.

"And you and Akechi seem kind of… weird for idols," Makoto finished.

Akira stopped and turned around to tell Makoto Yuki off, but fell silent when he realized that what he had said was actually kind of a fair assessment in light of their positions.

"Speaking of Akechi," Yukari said, "Where do **you** think his weapons came from? I don't think that laser swords and ray guns are commonly available anywhere, even on the black market."

"Well, no use worrying about it now," Akira sighed, "It keeps him alive, so it's fine as far as I'm concerned."

"I find it surprising that you actually seem to care about his well-being," Yukari said, "It usually seems like you couldn't care less about him."

"My grudge against him comes and goes," Akira admitted.

"And what is it doing now?" Makoto asked.

"I'd say it's going," Akira said, "Which, now that I think about it, we should be doing as well." He then turned around and continued the walk across the bridge, pretty much ending the conversation. The junior members of SEES were pretty curious now. Akira seemed much less angry for the last hour or so. Was this how he normally acted? Or was he just really not in his normal state of mind? He always seemed to know exactly what to say before, now he just seemed… out of it.

"He certainly has a way with words," Junpei said, before continuing as well.

"Yeah..." Yukari said, her feet now moving in turn.

"Hmm…." Makoto mumbled, following suit.

That night, Akira Kurusu slept relatively sound.

* * *

April 21, 2009

12:30 AM

Iwatodai Dormitory: Lobby

Yu Narukami and company had just returned to the Iwatodai Dormitory, their run in Tartarus cut short by the mysterious blockade. The walk, and subsequent train ride, back to the dorm was pretty somber, save for Sho's angry mumbling about Margaret and the fact that he didn't see any action that night. As the group entered the dorm, they wordlessly made for their dorm rooms, not wanting to exert any more energy than they needed. As Yu entered his room and got ready to go to sleep, however, one detail that he recalled was nagging him a bit too much. The female Makoto Yuki.

When he was trying to focus on choosing party members, part of Yu just couldn't understand why she was even here. Why would Philemon, or whoever Igor worked for, bring in a female version of the person they were supposed to save to inform them of how certain events played out in the original timeline? Elizabeth seemed to know what was going on, so why wasn't it just her? The entire scenario just seemed needlessly complicated. The only explanation he could think of was that they were just being given more fighters, but that seemed like an oddly incomplete explanation. Why not just bring in a bunch of other gender-swapped versions of everyone else?

And then there was another detail, the Masked Circle. If Mako's recollection of events was accurate, then they shouldn't have been here at all. In that case, who was responsible for sending them here? Was it Philemon? Or was it the one he had made the bet with? If Yu had to wager, he would likely say it was Philemon's opponent, but considering how strange Philemon's plan seemed at this point, he wouldn't be surprised if the god was just messing with them.

However, all of this was interrupted when his phone suddenly buzzed. Curious, Yu brought it out of his pocket, and saw that Yosuke was texting him.

"Yo, I herd U and the others were fightin in Tartarus 2nite. U guys ok?"

Yosuke hadn't changed at all. Yu typed his reply.

"Yeah, we did fine. Hit a blockade on floor 16 tho."

"This is just gettin more complic8ted by teh minute," Yosuke replied.

"Yea," Yu texted back, "BTW, why are you still awake?"

"Dark Hour gives me an Xtra hour evry day," Yosuke said, "So I decided 2 take advantg of it."

"Nurses?" Yu asked.

And from there on, Yosuke just stopped texting, which Yu was thankful for, as it meant that he could actually get a bit of sleep now. He put his phone down, closed his eyes, and waited for sleep to take him.

* * *

Akira Kurusu was standing in a strange space, a grey world with strange, blocky towers crumbled everywhere. He was standing on a floor that was asymmetrically patched up with a glasslike material. White particles were falling from the sky, resembling snow, and disappearing a soon as they hit the ground. He could not move his eyes to look anywhere else. They were fixated on this world. But in the middle of it all, a figure stood with their back towards him. It looked to be a girl in a dark red/purple high school uniform. The girl looked to have short hair, and carried a katana in her left hand. Against his will, Akira found himself moving towards the girl, only to stop when he heard her voice.

"Johei Sakurai… Raidou Kuzunoha…"

Who? Was that supposed to be his name? Was this body even Akira's? Who was he supposed to be then? Johei Sakurai or Raidou Kuzunoha?

"Your opposition will not go unpunished."

The girl turned her head towards him, revealing a mask of anger. The girl's face seemed almost unnaturally masculine for whatever reason, despite the fact that her voice and figure were clearly female.

"It is time that we ended this."

The girl turned the rest of her body towards Akira, before letting out a sigh and shifting to a more pained expression.

"If all had gone as planned, history after Taisho 20 would have taken a different path…"

Taisho 20? Different path? What was this girl going on about? Regardless of Akira's thoughts on the matter, he was powerless to respond. His mouth frozen shut as the girl spoke to him.

"But, because of you, no one will ever see the new future I dreamt of… Are you satisfied, judging right and wrong with you own eyes, blinded from the truth!? What you've done will result in a future ruled by vile fanatics… Society under total control… 'Freedom' as seen from within a cage!"

To Akira, that sounded like the exact opposite of what he wanted. But then again, his own adventure did have some unintended consequences. Regardless, he didn't have enough context to deduce what the girl meant.

"Should they be the ones to shape the course of history!? No, I wish for a world created by my own hands-my own power! But, none of this makes any difference now, Raidou the 14th.

You've managed to preserve Taisho 20 with minimal change."

Okay, so he was Raidou then. And judging by how the girl was talking about some sort of history-altering event that he had averted, he could probably assume that she was trying to travel through time or something.

"As I failed to alter history, I will wander forever as a lost soul— banished from my own time."

Bingo. And while Akira was congratulating himself a bit for getting it right, he couldn't help but feel sorry for this person. It looked like she was truly pained at being stuck in time. He didn't really understand what was happening, but it looked like the girl was incredibly upset. And then, she raised her sword.

"Now I've lost everything," She said slowly as she unsheathed her blade.

"…My dreams, my hope… Not even a shred of dignity remains."

She got into a fighting position, raising the blade with her left arm above her shoulders, pointing it at Akira.

"…Which is why, with what little I have left, I will destroy you."

Okay, not good.

"You cannot defeat me, Raidou… We share the same title!"

What? Who was this person? What title? Before Akira could ask any more questions, his body moved on its own again, moving its right hand to his waist, and drawing his own sword.

"A duel between two of those who have been named Raidou… Is this destiny's hand? If this be destiny, then do not hold back! Do not disappoint me, Fourteenth!"

Wait, so Raidou was the title? Did that mean that this guy's name really is Johei Sakurai? And fourteenth? If he was the fourteenth, which Raidou was this? All of these questions were put once again to the side, as Akira's left hand flung to his breast and he pulled out a tube. For a second the tube glowed green, before a similarly green light shot out from it and produced… Beelzebub? Before Akira could question why one of his Personas was in a tube, he himself rushed at the other Raidou with a quick stab forward. Nicking the girl in the shoulder as she dodged, Akira, or Raidou, or Johei, or… whatever, kept pressing his attack with a barrage of quick slashes. The girl, not fazed by the wound on her shoulder dodged the attacks relatively easily, before moving her sword to a lower position and going for an upward slash. Akira's body responded immediately, moving from the opening caused by his latest slash to slashing downward with both hands to counteract the upward motion of the girl's blade. The clash caused the two blades to grind against one another, Akira and the girl struggling to apply more force to their blades. However, Akira's body suddenly removed its right hand from his sword's hilt to grab something else on the right side of his waist: a revolver. Bringing the gun up, Akira's body pulled the trigger and shot at the girl's shoulder, clearly trying to incapacitate her instead of killing her. The girl recoiled back as the bullet hit her, and tried to get her bearings, but Beelzebub had positioned itself right behind her, and unleashed a Megidolaon right into her back, sending her flying across the area. However, as Akira's gaze followed her, the girl seemed to regain her bearings in mid-air, and when she landed a few yards away from him, managed to keep on her feet. Her hands still grasping the sword at a low angle.

"Such power, such skill… You are a Raidou born and bred."

She raised the sword into a mid-level stance. Akira just wanted to know what the hell was going on. Who were these people? Who was he supposed to be? Why was he fighting this girl?

"Radiou though you may be, you have not defeated me yet… Upon my pride, I will destroy you!"

And she charged at Akira, raising her sword before-

* * *

April 23, 2009

"Akira!" a voice said, stirring the boy in his sleep, "Class is over!"

"Huh?" Akira mumbled, his eyes fluttering open as he came back into consciousness. As he got his bearings and focused his gaze, he realized that he was leaning back in his chair, which was situated at the back of his classroom. He had slept through the majority of his class. Shifting his head to the direction of the voice, he found Morgana, poking his head out of the bag below the chair.

"You told me you'd be making up for lost sleep in class today," Morgana said, "And you asked me to wake you up, remember?"

"Oh right," Akira said, adjusting his posture, picking up the bag, and standing up before he slung it over his shoulder, "Classes are over for today now, right?"

"Yep," Morgana confirmed, "So I guess today's the day we check out the Boxing Club, huh?"

"Yeah," Akira said, "Need something to do before we can get any further in Tartarus. Though I'll probably have to leave you be somewhere so you don't suffocate in the gym locker."

"Why not the courtyard?" Morgana said, "Just leave me there and pick me up when you're done. I'll entertain myself somehow."

"If you say so," Akira said as he began to make his way out of the classroom and into the hallway.

"So," Morgana said, "You have a nice dream?"

"Nah," Akira said, "Just a weird one."

"Anything noteworthy about it?" Morgana inquired.

"Not really," Akira admitted, "Just me fighting someone with a Persona at my side. Nothing special."

"You sure?" Morgana pressed.

"Yeah," Akira said. And he wasn't lying. In between all the dreams he had about his friends, and the dreams about confronting the various targets he had faced, Akira wasn't too concerned about the dream he had just had. And why would he have been?

"It's not like I haven't had a bunch of other dreams like it anyway. Didn't I tell you about the one where the Yamanote Line got barricaded or the one with the big black hole in the North Pole?"

* * *

3:00 PM

Gekkoukan High School: Boxing Club

After what seemed like a hop, skip, and a jump, Akira found himself to the right of Akihiko Sanada in the school's gymnasium, in front of the ring, and facing a group of onlooking students.

"Okay," said Akihiko Sanada, addressing the club, "Today I'd like to introduce a new recruit."

Akihiko was already in boxing club attire, t-shirt, shorts, etc. The coach was also on his left, but was opting to let Akihiko introduce Akira, since he was familiar with him.

"Akira Kurusu here will be joining us today," he said, "And I hope you all make sure to help him out. Also, don't get him confused with Akira Miyamoto…" Akihiko quickly scanned the room "Who, once again, isn't here..."

As Akihiko introduced Akira, the Thief couldn't help but notice a few of the weird looks he was getting. No doubt because of his newfound celebrity status. While he was aware that most people in this world, and subsequently, this school, didn't know his real name, he knew that rumors must have been going around after those girls had picked him out. Regardless, he decided to keep playing along.

"Nice to meet you," he said with a small bow, keeping his expression level.

"All right," Akihiko said, "Now let's show him the ropes."

Well, that was quick. Akihiko wasn't the type to waste time at all.

"You think we should start him off light?" the coach suggested.

"Sure," Akihiko said, "Let's make sure not to go for the face. Don't wanna break any hearts."

Okay, that was unnecessary.

"From what I've heard," Akira said, "You're quite the heartbreaker yourself, Akihiko-senpai."

The rest of the club looked a bit taken aback at Akira's quip, clearly not expecting someone this famous to be that candid. Even Akihiko was caught of guard, his attention now drawn away from the coach. He almost looked impressed.

"I suppose," he said, "Though as far as I'm concerned, I don't need a relationship."

Oh, so he was one of those guys.

"Anyways, get ready," Akihiko said, "I wanna get you up to speed quickly. You ever work out before?"

"Yeah," Akira confirmed, "Ran the gamut of pull-ups, jogging, and weightlifting for a while. Practiced some kata for a little while too."

Now that got the club's attention even more.

"Damn," Akihiko said with a smirk, "In that case, you'll be right at home here. Hope you packed a lot of protein."

"You know it," Akira said, returning the smirk with genuine enthusiasm.

"We'll be getting along just fine then," Akihiko said.

"So long as you don't make any cracks about my occupation outside the ring, then I think we will," Akira said, still keeping up his cheeky persona.

Akihiko's face had a brief moment of realization before he settled back into his affable character. He was gonna have fun.

"Deal," he said, "Let's begin."

* * *

Gekkoukan High School: Kendo Club

Makoto was a bit surprised by the news from Mitsuru that there was a blockade in Tartarus. He had barely even gotten started in the Tower, and yet it seemed that there wouldn't be any way to make progress anymore. While the heiress had told him that they would still make training excursions every now and again, he couldn't help but feel a bit disappointed. But alas, Makoto Yuki had a life to live, and he resolved to try as best he could to appreciate the peace he had been given for the moment.

After a couple days had gone by without much going on, aside from becoming friends with some weird guy named Kenji, Makoto had decided to spice up his life a bit. The blockade was a pretty significant demotivator for actually doing anything in Tartarus, however, so he was forced to look elsewhere. Overhearing that sports clubs were now accepting new members, he thought that joining the Kendo Club could help him become more adept with his swordplay. He hoped that he could rectify his relative lack of experience with his weapon, in contrast to the natural skill that the more seasoned SEES members seemed to have. Most of the morning of April 23 just glided by before classes ended and Makoto made his way to the gymnasium. Walking in, he was a bit surprised to find Yu Narukami and Yusuke Kitagawa in the club as well, introducing themselves to the coach. He stood there for a few seconds before Yu noticed him and walked over.

"Hey," the silver-haired boy said, "You're joining too? You should've said something."

"It wasn't something I planned on," Makoto admitted, rubbing the back of his neck, "I just thought I could use a bit more training."

"Same," Yu said, "Yusuke-san took a bit of convincing, but he came around to it after a while."

"We haven't actually started yet," Yusuke said, "As of now, we're just checking in with the coach."

"That reminds me," Yu said before turning back and addressing the coach, "Can you get a form for our friend here too?"

Suddenly, the sound of the door being opened once more was heard, and when Makoto had turned around to look, along with his two fellow SEES members, he was even more surprised to see Junpei Iori of all people come through the door.

"Yo!" he said, "What's goin' on?"

"Junpei?" Makoto asked, "Did you come here because of-"

"Akira?" he asked, walking up to the group, "Yeah. After he not-so-subtly recommended it, I figured I could give it a shot."

"Let me guess," Yusuke inquired, "He found your swordplay lacking?"

"Yep," Junpei said, "Though I guess most of us here don't have much experience. Well, aside from Yu-san over here."

"Oh, right," Yu said, "Thank you."

"Hey!" the coach said from across the room, grabbing the group's attention "I got those forms! Sign them and we'll do introductions!"

Turning back to the group, Yu said, "Well, let's not keep them waiting."

After the four had all signed their forms, they were lined up in front of the members, and introductions began.

"Okay," the coach started, "We have four new members joining us today."

He introduced them, going from left to right.

"This here's Yu Narukami," he said, gesturing at the silver-haired leader as a look of intrigue spread across the students' faces, "As I'm sure you all know, he's considered to have one of the finest sword hands in Japan, even compared to some professional fighters. He's brought home too many awards to count for his middle school as well as his previous high school. Let's all make him feel at home."

"Pleased to meet you," Yu said, "Let's all do our best."

The coach's introduction was met with cheers from all the students.

"Aw yeah!" someone said, "We've got championships in the bag this year!"

"Next up," the coach said, "Is Yusuke Kitagawa."

That introduction got a much less enthusiastic response, and worried looks quickly appeared on the faces of the kendo team.

"He has a bit of experience in iaido," the coach continued, "But he hopes to use Kendo for… What did you say?"

"To expand the horizons of beauty which I can experience," Yusuke replied, not missing a beat. Now everyone just looked confused.

"Is this guy really a thug?" someone whispered, "He just seems kind of weird."

"Quiet," the coach snapped, "I don't want anyone spreading rumors in this club. Like it or not, you're all teammates now."

The whispering students stopped talking almost immediately.

"Alright then," the coach said, resuming his introductions and moving to the next inductees, "This is Makoto Yuki and Junpei Iori, both newcomers to Kendo. Make sure they feel welcome." He then gestured to a young, dark-skinned girl standing with the rest of the team. "This is Yuko Nishiwaki, our club manager." Yuko gave a small bow in response before the coach moved his gesture to a club member in front of the others. "And this is Kazuishi Miyamoto, our team's future captain."

"Hey," the future captain said, looking at the group, "You guys're all in my class, right?"

"Is that so?" the coach wondered, "In that case, make 'em feel welcome."

Kazuishi approached Makoto and Junpei,

"Come to me anytime if you need pointers," he said, "And I'll make sure you guys carry us through championships!"

As Kazuishi finished saying this, Yu noticed that Makoto seemed oddly disconnected from what was going on for just a split second, as if he was staring into space. A feeling that he recognized, and not without good reason.

"Anyway," the coach said, "Let's get our practice underway!"

"What?" Junpei said, "Already?"

"Better get used to it," Kazuishi said, "We'll be working you guys to the bone here."

"I'm up for it," Yu said, "As you can guess, this sort of thing is pretty routine for me."

"I suppose I could say the same," Yusuke said.

"Aw man," Junpei said, "What is it with you guys? Why do you all have to be the freakishly good fighters compared to us noobs?"

"That's kind of a given," Makoto said, already walking towards the locker room to change, the others following suit. Junpei hung around for a second before relenting.

"Man," he said, "Maybe this was a bad idea..."

* * *

Gekkoukan High School: Track Gymnasium

"Holy shit!" a track team member said, "Is that Ryuji Sakamoto?!"

"Oh my God!" another yelled, "It is!"

"Settle down people," the coach said, trying to rein in the rowdy students, "I know we're all excited, but don't get the wrong idea. Sakamoto won't be running with us due to the injury he sustained at his last track meet about a year ago."

"What?!" someone else said.

"Calm down," the track coach reaffirmed, "What I mean is that Sakamoto here will be serving as a team manager, bringing his expertise in track to all of you, while still giving his leg time to heal."

"Yes!" another member cried out in relief, "With someone like him backing us up, we'll be unstoppable!"

Ryuji and Yosuke were currently side by side in the indoor track gym, watching the track team lose their shit at the prospect of him simply providing support.

"Man," Yosuke said, a little intimidated, "You're a popular one, huh?"

"Yep," Ryuji said, also intimidated, "Though I can't say it's not weirding me out a little."

"Also," the coach continued, "Yosuke Hanamura here will also be joining up with us. So let's make him feel welcome."

The group of chattering students made a collective noise expressing what seemed like approval, before they went back to chattering about Ryuji being their manager.

"Heh," a voice said, coming from behind the two, "Seems like you've already gone and replaced me, coach."

Looking backwards, Yosuke and Ryuji found a girl in the Gekkoukan tracksuit, with dark hair parted at the center that tapered off towards the sides of her head. Her dark blue eyes were drawn-in, and the two boys felt a bit unnerved looking into them. She had her hands in her pockets and was wearing a mask of disillusionment.

"Yoshizaka-san," the teacher said, "It's not that we're replacing you. You've got the necessary expertise to be a manager for us, it's just that you don't attend very often, so we might want to have someone else helping out. Besides, are you sure you don't want to just take some time off anyway?"

"No," the girl said, now walking past Yosuke and Ryuji towards the bleachers, "But whether or not you decided to give me an assistant or not makes no difference to me. Just keep me around and I'll be fine."

As the girl reached the bleachers and sat down, leaning forward. When her poor posture drew the attention of everyone in the room, the coach, giving up on talking to her, clapped to get everyone back in line.

"Okay," he said, "Let's get to work everybody!"

With that, the students all got into their positions. Ryuji however, wanted to know a bit more about the club's situation, and walked over to the coach. Yosuke was caught off guard by this and walked over with him.

"Hey," he said, drawing the coach's gaze to him, "What's up with that girl? Is she part of the team?"

The coach sighed, "Her name is Anna Yoshizaka. She's got kind of a similar backstory to you. Former star athlete at her school, but ended up getting too injured to participate. In her case she was in a hit-and-run accident. She's been taking it pretty badly, as you can see."

"Hm…" Yosuke mumbled, "She's had it rough."

"Yeah," the coach said, "Part of the reason I'm letting Sakamoto-san here pull double duty for her is so that she has more time to recuperate, but it doesn't look like she's backing down."

There was a palpable silence. No one really knew what to say.

"Thanks, that's good to know," Ryuji said, before moving over to a spot on the bleachers distant from Anna. Yosuke, noticing that the conversation was over, decided to go get changed. As Ryuji watched the track team begin their first few runs, all he could think about was how similar his situation was to the poor girl's. He had been through a similar kind of experience, both back home and in this strange new world, but he couldn't force this girl to relate to him either way if she was just going to be this distant. He almost wondered if he had been this way back before he had met Akira. Was he acting out? Unable to let go of his grudge against the world for stacking the deck against him? He was so caught up in this that he didn't notice a member coming up to him.

"Sakamaoto-san," he said, "I just wanted to know if you could give me any pointers on my technique."

Being drawn out of his stream of consciousness, Ryuji was made aware of the member and was a bit flustered.

"Oh, uh, sure," he said, "Just get into position and I'll see what you've got."

"Yes sir!" the student said, moving over to the track's starting line and getting into the starting pose, Ryuji watching him intently, trying to put Anna out of his mind in favor of focusing on the here and now. Dwelling on the past wasn't going to do him any good. He was here for a new experience. And that's what he was going to focus on.

"Ready…" Ryuji said, "And GO!"

* * *

Outside the Student Council Room

The scene was the hallway in front of the Student Council Room, and Mitsuru Kirijo was currently holding a clipboard and talking to Makoto Nijima in a somewhat disappointed tone.

"I have to say," Mitsuru said, "When you told me that you were ostracized from your classmates at your previous school, I didn't expect to find what I did."

"Yeah…" Makoto said nervously, "I was too scared to tell you because I thought that… it would make a bad impression."

Mitsuru sighed, "So long as you're willing to make amends through your work with us, it matters not. Just try to be more candid with us from now on. Also, look out for Hidetoshi, he'll be on edge the moment you step in. Are you ready?"

With a gulp, Makoto nodded, prompting Mitsuru to turn around and lead her into the Student Council room, where they found a group of other students waiting. At the center of the desks, which were arranged in an upside-down U shape in front of the chalkboard, Makoto caught sight of a boy with slicked-back black hair and a yellow armband on his left arm. He had a discerning expression as she and Mitsuru walked in the room. Makoto also noticed a shy-looking girl with long brown hair and glasses by his side. Once they had walked into the center of the space between the desks, Mitsuru introduced her.

"This is Makoto Nijima," she began, "She will be working with us from today onward-"

"Excuse me, Kirijo-san," the black-haired boy said, "But isn't that girl the leader of the Atomic Crusaders?"

"T-the biker gang?" the girl by his side said, a bit intimidated.

That was the name of her gang in this timeline? All things considered, it was probably the first thing Makoto would've named a biker gang had she actually possessed the desire to start one. Especially in retrospect.

"I can assure you she no longer associates with them Odagiri," Mitsuru said, "And her prior experience as a delinquent could serve us well now that she intends to make up for her misspent youth."

"Thanks…?" Makoto said.

Odagiri himself seemed intrigued, his expression shifting to a more inquisitive one.

"Interesting…" he said, "I suppose so long as she keeps out of trouble, then her experience would be useful to us. Certainly more useful than that cretin, Inoue."

"Inoue?" Makoto asked.

"Oh," the brown-haired girl said, "Yasuo Inoue. He used to be a member of the Student Council, but he was kicked off by Odagiri-san."

"He was obsessed with lording himself over the school, rather than improving it," Odagiri said, "Pitiful…"

While he certainly sounded detestable, Makoto couldn't help but feel that this Odagiri person wasn't very self-aware. At least he seemed to be somewhat earnest.

"Setting that aside," the girl said, "I hope we'll all get along. I'm Chihiro Fushimi, and this," she gestured to the boy, "Is Hidetoshi Odagiri."

"Pleased to meet you," Makoto said with a bow, "I promise that I'll do this organization proud."

"Hmm…" Hidetoshi murmured, "You seem like quite the different person from what the rumors said. You may just be a boon to us yet."

"Now," Mitsuru said, "Let's get this meeting underway."

She led Makoto to the right side of the desks, and the two sat down next to one another.

"Indeed," Hidetoshi said, before he and Chihiro sat down as well, "Now, I want to start you off by looking at potential trouble makers. I've had my eye on one..." he picked up and looked at a piece of paper on the desk in front of him, "'Hiroki Sugimoto.'"

Makoto sighed. This guy was on the warpath.

* * *

Gekkoukan High: Outside the Gym

Meanwhile, Akira was exiting the practice room, and stepped into the hallway outside, exhausted.

"Ugh…" Akira groaned, "That was more low-key than I would've hoped."

He wasn't wrong. Most of the training he had done consisted simply of getting his stance down and just performing basic punches. Despite the simplicity of it all, it was still taxing doing the same exercises over and over. The entire thing had lasted for far longer than Akira would have preferred. In some senses, he probably deserved it after giving everyone so much shit last night, but that didn't make the boredom hurt any less. At this point, he was tired, distracted, and just wanted to get home. But he needed to retrieve Morgana first, so he turned to go to the courtyard, only to bump into a running student's shoulder.

"Woah!" the student exclaimed as he lost his hold on his bag, dropping it on the floor and spilling out all of the papers within.

"Ah, crap," Akira said, "Sorry there, wasn't paying attention."

"Please," the other student said, "Don't blame yourself. I shouldn't have been running anyway."

The two crouched down to group up the papers. Getting a better look at the boy, Akira saw that he was quite handsome, with flowing black hair covering his right eye.

"What were you in such a hurry for, anyway?" Akira asked.

"I was meeting a friend," the black-haired boy said, putting the papers he had retrieved in his bag, "She's working with the track team, so she told me to meet her there. But I was late so… yeah."

"I've also got a friend on the track team," Akira said, gathering up the last of the papers and handing them to the boy, "His name's Ryuji. Say hi to him for me if you see him."

"Sure," the black-haired boy said, taking them and placing them in his bag. "I will." He stood up glanced at the door Akira had come from. "So, you're in the boxing club?" he asked.

Akira stood up in turn, and responded with a nod. "Yeah, but we've mostly just stood around getting the stance down so far. It feels more like a dance class than anything else at this point."

"Really?" the boy asked, "An associate of mine said that he lost a fight with a flamenco dancer once. I've always assumed that the better one fights, the better one dances."

Akira almost looked impressed, "You've got some strange friends," he said, "But then again, I'm one to talk."

"Actually," the black-haired boy said, "You look kind of familiar. Were you in a magazine recently?"

"Maybe," Akira said, "Stick around this school long enough and you'll know the answer."

The black-haired boy then brought up his wrist and looked at his watch.

"I really should be going," he said, "The track team should be getting out."

"No problem," Akira said, "Sorry to hold you up.

"Think nothing of it," the boy said as he began walking to the door to the track. Before passing Akira however, he turned around and looked at him once more. "By the way," he asked, "What's your name?"

"Akira Kurusu," Akira stated reaching out his hand, "You?"

The other boy took it, a grin on his face.

"Jun Kurosu."

And suddenly, Lavenza's voice once again rang in Akira's ears, repeating the same words that he had heard every time he had made a new ally.

"I am thou, thou art I...

Thou hast acquired a new vow.

It shall become thy wings of rebellion

that breaketh thy chain of captivity.

With the birth of the Jester persona

I have obtained the wings of blessing that

shall lead to freedom and new power…"

And with that, the image of a new card flashed in Akira's mind. That of a court jester dancing like a madman.

Jun released his hand and said, "Goodbye." And as he walked away, Akira's blood went cold. Quickly looking back at Jun and activating his Third Eye, he saw that what happened was no joke. The black-haired boy now had a card floating over his head, showing clearly that Akira now had a Confidant relationship with Jun Kurosu. What vow had he acquired? This was even more ambiguous than his relationship with Goro and Sae. In that moment, as Jun walked out of earshot Akira could only vocalize one quiet, knee-jerk reaction.

"What the hell?"

* * *

Omake: Voices of Reason, Part 2

As Akira and Ryuji walked home the blonde track star noticed once again that his best friend was looking a bit troubled. Knowing that the last few days had been kind of rough, he decided to inquire.

"Yo man," he asked, "You feeling okay?"

"I'm fine," Akira said, "But there's still a lot of stuff bugging me."

"Yeah?" Ryuji asked, "What's up?"

"Well," Akira said, "Don't Takeba and Amagi, sound really similar to some people we know?"

"Huh?" Ryuji exclaimed, "Why?"

"Like, Miss Kawakami and Miss Ohya?" Akira said.

Ryuji pondered for a moment, only to say, "Can't say I hear the connection."

"I don't know what I expected," Akira said, "That's not even getting into Marie and Theo…"

"Who?" Ryuji asked.

"Eh," Akira dismissed, "You haven't met Marie, but she's some girl who sounds like Hifumi."

"Oh yeah," Ryuji remembered, "That Shogi girl."

"And then there was that Theo guy," Akira said, "For a second I thought he sounded like Mr. Hiruta, but then I just couldn't see it anymore."

"Right…" Ryuji said, "Look, I don't know why you're so hung up on this, but I think you should let it go. It's kind of looking like an unhealthy obsession."

"And then there's Satonaka sounding like Futaba's mom," Akira continued, not really listening to Ryuji.

"Well, I couldn't even really hear her voice," Ryuji said, "When we were fighting her it sounded like it was going through some kind of filter."

"I know what I heard, Ryuji," Akira insisted.

"I'm sure you do buddy," Ryuji replied, now pulling ahead, "I'm sure you do."

Akira walked in silence for a couple minutes before coming to a realization.

"I'm going fuckin' crazy, aren't I-?" he paused right before he finished, thought a moment, and then came to a conclusion.

"That's it!" he said, "It's Jun who sounds like Mr. Hiruta!"

* * *

Really sorry for the delay on this one guys. Anyway, now that I'm done, I have a few things to say. First off, Chapter 12 WILL be out around this time next month, and I will begin implementing the rewrites after said chapter is completed. Second, thank you for reading this after I jilted you guys for so long. I had a lot of fun writing this one, and I hope that you guys picked up on some of the more obscure easter eggs I packed in here. Anywho, hope you enjoyed, and see you next month.

Recent Recommendations: Netflix's _Castlevania_ , and _Spider-Man Homecoming_


	14. Premonition 1: Big Girls Never Cry

Hey guys, what is up? I gotta say, I was surprised with how quickly some of you pointed out all the hidden references in the last chapter, though I'm a bit sad none of you seemed to find the SMTif... character hidden in there. Anyway, in celebration of the 1 year (and 1 week) anniversary, of this fanfic, I've decided to put out a little treat called a premonition. While this does hint towards later plot developments I'll make sure not to spoil any of the particulars, and there'll be plenty of ambiguity to go around. This is short, and it's basically me doing something for you before the next chapter is complete so as to celebrate the anniversary, so I hope you enjoy.

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Premonition 1: Big Girls Never Cry

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The Dark Hour

Iwatodai Dormitory: Roof

Gunshots rang out from the roof of the Iwatodai Dormitory, echoing over the streets surrounding it. It being the dead of night, few were around to hear, and it also being the Dark Hour, no one was able to take notice, being in coffins. No one save for the people currently fighting on top of that roof.

A red-gloved hand rapidly pulled the trigger on a semi-automatic pistol, firing five shots across the roof towards an opponent, framed in darkness, wielding a large claymore-like blade. Said opponent, despite the sword's large frame, quickly swung it with a single hand,quick metallic sounds signaling that the bullets had been deflected by the blade. Not skipping a beat, he used his free hand to pull out a white pistol, slightly larger in frame than the gun of the person it was now trained upon. Without hesitation, the gun was fired three times. The red-gloved gunman dodged to the right with a sudden leap, their long black coat flailing in mid-air as they did so. However, their opponent quickly closed the distance in an instance, putting the sword on their back and now appearing to be equipped with glowing metal gauntlets and greaves, of which one of the former was rapidly approaching the face of the dodging gunman. Said gunman then reflexively crossed their arms, and along with that motion, a ghostly figure in samurai armor wielding two katana appeared in between the two combatants to block the punch with said swords. The impact of the punch was dissipated as it hit the samurai's blades, but it was still great enough to send the samurai, and its summoner, reeling back across the roof, into the railing. As the red-gloved gunman slammed into the rail, they grunted in pain, but quickly regained their composure, leaving a slight dent where their body had hit the rail.

Now, with a break in the action, and the adrenaline now wearing off, the two combatants had time to look at each other in the moonlight. The red-gloved combatant saw that in addition to a large sword and metal gauntlets and greaves, their opponent also possessed a flashy bright-red coat that was as long as their own. Unlike theirs, this one had short sleeves, and revealed the ends of the sleeves of the black shirt he was wearing under the coat. He also appeared to be wearing black pants with a brown western design on the ends of the pant legs, and strangely enough, that wasn't the strangest thing about him. He had stark white hair, but the face of a man in his mid-thirties. His eyes matched his hair, and his expression was that of cocky satisfaction.

The man in the red coat was taking in the sight of his opponent as well. In addition to the easily identifiable red gloves and black coat, his opponent was also wearing a grey undershirt and black pants with brown shoes. Their face was shadowed, but he was able to make out a white domino mask on their face.

"So," the silver-haired assailant said in a cocky tone, "You new to this? Seems like you're a bit on the defensive side."

The masked person remained silent.

"Silent treatment, huh?" the silver haired man continued, "Eh, most greenhorns I've seen try to look tough."

"Greenhorn?" the masked person responded, "Don't make me laugh. I'm just getting back into the game."

"Oh yeah," the silver-haired man said in faux-surprise. "Hospital stay, right? You got off easy. I mean, your buddies back there are-"

"How the hell do you know about them?" the masked person interrupted.

"My employer's got a special interest in you," the silver-haired man said, "They also told me about the story behind your body."

The masked person was pissed off now. "I'm well aware how bad my friends were hurt," they growled, "I don't care about this body. I ended up better off than any of them."

"Even though you actually came out of that fiasco the other day the worst off," replied the silver-haired man.

"So you know?" the masked person inquired, "You're with the Masked Circle? With Joker? With Kan-"

"Hell no," the silver-haired man scoffed, "You wouldn't catch me dead around those guys. I'm just here because I wanted to have some fun."

"So then," the masked person asked, now raising a knife, "Who put you up to this?"

The man drew his sword, "Tell you what, if you can keep up, I'll let you know." He lunged at the masked person with a stinging strike, only for his strike to be blocked this time by a foot. The foot belonged to a masked figure in a red suit with a black top hat and glowing orange horns. The Persona known as Arsene. Although the man in the red coat couldn't see, at that moment his opponent's mask was now gone, and they were dashing to the side. They then halted their dash and leaped at his side, the knife racing towards the man. Unfortunately, the man was quite perceptive, and immediately let go of his sword and, after turning towards the masked person, assumed a stance with his forearm pointed up, perpendicular to his upper arm, which was positioned ahead of his body, and his legs planted wide and firm. As the knife hit his skin, it was stopped immediately, unable to pierce the man's flesh, and in that instant, the masked attacker was blown back as their opponent thrust his arm forward with a tremendous force. As the masked person was blown back and screeched to a halt, their opponent then dashed towards them and grabbed their collar before pointing a pitch-black pistol at their forehead.

"Bingo."

A gunshot rang out… and there was silence for a moment.

It took the masked individual a good twenty seconds to recognize that they weren't dead, and that they had seen their opponent's head jerk to the left. He had been shot.

However, he seemed completely unfazed. With a look of mild annoyance on his face, he looked in the direction that the shot had come from, and the masked individual's gaze followed.

There stood a girl with short brown hair, a gun raised in her right hand. To her left side stood a boy with black hair and an earring on his left ear.

"Well," the silver haired man said, dropping the masked person without even looking at them, "That was rude."

As the masked person hit the ground, they caught their breath before looking at their savior.

"Uchida? Todou?" they said, "What are you-"

The brown-haired girl raised her hand, signaling the masked individual to pause. She and the boy with the earring stepped aside, and between them walked a boy with short silver hair in a black school uniform. A black school uniform that, despite seemingly being worn properly, had an empty right sleeve.

"W-what the hell?" the masked individual stuttered, "Why are you out of your room?! Don't you need-"

"I'm well aware that I'm in bad shape," the silver haired boy said, "But don't you think there are more pressing matters to take care of right now?"

Although it was hard to tell beneath their mask, the masked person had a look of resignation as they stood up and faced the silver-haired man in the flashy red coat once more.

"Don't mind me," he said, stretching his arms in preparation, "Just go ahead and get yourselves ready for Round 2. It's only fair I give you a handicap."

The masked individual was somewhat irritated now, but simultaneously thankful for the opportunity. The brown-haired girl, the boy with the earring, and the silver-haired boy with the empty sleeve all gathered around them, their weapons, all swords, and for some, guns, now drawn. There was another moment of silence as the group stared down the man, now finished stretching, before said man let out a cocky utterance.

"Heh, Now this is more like it." the silver haired man in the red coat proclaimed. And with no warning, he swept back his arms, guns in hand, as his sword changed into a mysterious skull-shaped device with two long arm-like protractions coming out of it that was situated on his left arm. As the group was now getting into their battle stances, the man let out an unforgettable battle cry.

"Let's party!"

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Inside the Iwatodai Dormitory, a man in a purple suit was sitting on a cushion next to the vending machines on the second floor, making a video call on a strange gun-shaped apparatus.

"Don't worry," the man said, "They won't die easy. That silver-haired hotshot may have given that freak with the tattoos a hard fight, but those four probably have enough firepower to stay alive until he gets bored."

"I hope so," said the one he was calling, a strikingly beautiful blonde woman in a brown suit, who for some reason had an unnaturally deep tone, "I'd like to remind you that you're still on thin ice."

"Yeah, yeah, I get it," the man in the purple suit replied, "If anything goes wrong, I'll take full responsibility."

"Let us hope we never come to that point," the woman said before the screen went dark. With a sigh, the man in the purple suit retracted the screens, bringing the apparatus back to a conventional gun shape. He got up and made his way over to the stairs, only to stop before he took the first step down. After a moment of pause, he raised his hands at a ninety degree angle from his elbows.

"Okay," he said, "I guess you two heard that."

Over his left shoulder was the blade of a short sword, over his right, the blade of a naginata. He heard a voice come from behind his right, the voice of a girl

"What the hell are you doing?" the girl said, "What's going on upstairs?"

The man in the purple suit turned his head to the left, his left eye now visible to the two adolescents threatening him. The sword was being raised with a single hand by a boy with blue hair, and the naginata was being raised with two hands by a girl with reddish brown hair. Both had a mask of visible, yet restrained anger on their faces. It seemed like anything might set them off if it wasn't satisfactory.

Of course, the man in the purple suit was never one to give the easy answer.

"It's kind of a long story."

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Anyway, not much to say here. Just letting you guys know I'm still alive. I'll be trying to get chapter 11 done before the year is out, so despite my ineptitude, please look forward to it.

Recent Recommendations: _Barakamon_ , _Level E_ , and, _Yakuza Kiwami_


	15. Rewrite Announcement

So, cards on the table guys. The Unholy Trinity as it is is being heavily reworked. I'm gonna open up the revised version a new Fic with the same title. There's gonna be a substantial amount of changes in this new version, so I'll list off the big ones here.

The addition of a premonition (Think Modern-Fire Emblem style) and a prologue. I feel like the first chapter I did was good in its own right, but it's not really a proper introduction in my eyes.

The reworking of the order in which events are presented. I wanted to try out some interesting narrative tricks with how I present the story this time. It won't be anything that majorly rewrites the plot, but it will drastically alter how newcomers come to understand it.

Akira Kurusu is now Ren Amamiya. I just like keeping with canon.

MC's will now have romances right off the bat. It will be Yu/Rise, and Ren/Makoto. Any other romances will develop over time. It just kind of feels more natural that way.

Smaller tweaks to grammar and prose. For obvious reasons.

The P5 characters are now plucked out of time during their detour to bring Ren home, rather than during Ren's stint at juvie.

And perhaps the most important change in my eyes, there will be major changes to Ren and the others' personalities in light of new information from P5, as well as changes to their game's lore details. I started this fic VERY soon after P5's Japanese release, which led to me making a few lapses in how I presented its mechanics and characters. Those will be fixed. Ren will not be a bitchy assole this time around. I'm honestly kind of embarrassed I wrote him that way in hindsight. Likewise, Goro will have his relationship with the group at large reworked a bit.

Alright, that's all. The new Fic will be up within the day. Thank you all so much for your support with this fic. I hope to see anyone following it move over to its new and (hopefully) improved version. Thank you so much for your reviews over the year I've been writing this, and see you in a few.

Oh, and before I go, let's also say that I have a new idea brewing in my head for when famous Haru artist ScruffyTurtles finishes drawing their recently developed AU out. But we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

Adios!


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